The CUPE 3912 – MSVU Bargaining Committee met with the Mount’s Representatives on Monday January 9, and on Thursday January 12. We had the assistance of a Conciliation Officer appointed by the Nova Scotia Minister of Labour.

On Monday January 9, we exchanged proposals on non-monetary matters and did not address financial items.

On Thursday January 12, substantial progress was made on the non-monetary items, and financial proposals were exchanged.

The Union’s proposal can be characterized as the equivalent of the new CUPE 3912 – Dalhousie University Agreement.

The Union’s financial proposal was a cumulative ~17% increase over 4 years.

Step	Sept 1 20	Sept 1 21	Sept 1 22	Sept 1 23
1	5282	5361	6349	6539
2	5876	5964	6349	6539
3	6307	6402	7042	7252

The employer’s financial proposal below was a cumulative ~10% increase over 4 years.

Step	Sept 1 20	Sept 1 21	Sept 1 22	Sept 1 23
1	5256	5322	5634	5747
2	5847	5920	6247	6372
3	6276	6355	6693	6827

Our Thursday January 12 meeting did not conclude with an agreement on financial proposals. The Conciliation Officer will now file his report with the Minister of Labour (possibly on February 6).

We expect to meet with the employer and Conciliation Officer again on February 16. The employer by then may have a different perspective regarding the Union’s proposal.

There is now a CUPE 3912 – SMU Tentative Agreement based in part on “Dalhousie Dollars”. Our CUPE 3912 message now evolves to “Parity between MSVU and SMU members”.

The Mount’s financial proposal is not even close to what our Dalhousie members won after a 24 day strike.  We strongly reiterated that for an agreement the Mount has to provide the same percentages and lump sum increases as obtained in the Dalhousie agreement, since that is clearly why the membership provided a 95% YES vote for a Strike Mandate.

It appears that the Mount does NOT believe your YES vote is a serious message to the Employer. 

The conclusion of your Bargaining Committee is that the Board of Governors believes that we will not strike for a fair and just financial package.

The Mount works when we work. Parity in rates between MSVU, SMU and Dal.

We must now work together to show our employer we are serious about our demands. This is the only way to avoid the disruptions of a strike.

Contact us now to help our “Strike Avert” campaign. We need people to post signage, contact media, plan picketing and protests, sign up members for strike pay. Volunteer some time in January – February with CUPE 3912.

Avoid a strike, by planning to have one. To volunteer, please contact us.

More information will be forthcoming soon.

You can contact any member of the bargaining committee at:

Cameron Ells (President CUPE 3912)
Don McIver (Vice-President  for Part-time Instructors CUPE 3912)
Jessica Boyd 
Alex Mielnik

If you worked for Dalhousie between September 1, 2020 and December 31, 2022, you are owed retroactive pay under the new Collective Agreement.

If you were working at Dalhousie in Fall 2022, you will receive retroactive pay automatically.

If you were not working at Dalhousie in Fall 2022, you must complete and submit a retroactive pay request form, as well as update your direct deposit information with Dalhousie.

• Retro Request Form
• Direct Deposit of Pay Instructions

Dalhousie is supposed to notify you about eligibility to retroactive pay. You have sixty (60) days to complete the forms from the time you receive a notification from Dalhousie.

We recommend that you complete and submit the necessary forms as soon as possible, even if you have not received a notification yet.

Completed forms should be sent to: Academic.Staff.Relations@dal.ca

On January 5, 2023 at 7 p.m., a Special Membership Meeting (SMM) will be held online to:

• establish terms of reference for strike committees at MSVU and SMU;
• elect members for strike committees at MSVU and SMU; and
• vote(s) on whether to accept TAs and additional part-time academic employees at various academic institutions as CUPE 3912 members.

The SMM is being called at the request of the Executive Board, which passed a motion to that effect on December 22, 2022.

Section 6(b) of CUPE 3912’s Bylaws states that:

No business shall be transacted at the special meeting other than that for which the meeting is called and notice given.

RSVP to Receive Zoom Link and Agenda

Please RSVP to Kim Robinson, our Membership Officer, to receive a Zoom Link and Agenda.

Between December 16 – 19, 2022, 72.4% of CUPE 3912 eligible members at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) voted; 95.2% voted in favour of a mandate to strike.

In the coming weeks, our CUPE 3912 MSVU Negotiating Team will prepare for our January 2023 bargaining meetings with the employer, where there will also be a conciliator appointed by the Nova Scotia Department of Labour to try and help to overcome our current impasse.

With your mandate, our upcoming negotiations will be influenced by the knowledge that we can call a strike at short notice in winter of 2023, and that we have the means, the will, the experience and the resolve to do so, if necessary.

In the coming weeks we will also be preparing for a potential strike, if it is necessary, to support our collective bargaining goals. This includes organizing a team for the planning, operation and execution of an MSVU strike.

This is our first call for CUPE 3912 MSVU volunteers. Please contact our Vice-President or President this week if you can. We will follow up with emailed updates that are also on our website.

There are roles and responsibilities related to strike activity administration, picketing, communications and finance. We will be organizing Strike Preparation planning and training sessions that will start in January 2023.  

We will also take steps to prepare for a Strike Pay bank account, similar to what was set up in 2022 for our CUPE 3912 strike at Dalhousie University.

CUPE 3912 members employed by MSVU in the winter of 2023, who are documented as performing strike duties, will be able to receive strike pay cheques.  

These activities are similar to what is being organized by CUPE 3912 members at Saint Mary’s University, who also voted YES to a Mandate to Strike on December 1 – 2.  

We are also building on the successful experiences and support of CUPE National and our CUPE 3912 Dal Strike veterans.

Take some time now with your family and friends this holiday season. Please also take some time with your colleagues and your organized labour family in 2023.

Between December 16-19, 2022, there is a “Mandate to Strike” vote by CUPE 3912 MSVU members with Fall 2022 contracts. This can strengthen our bargaining position for our scheduled January 2023 MSVU conciliation talks.

We’ll use the same safe, secure, secret online voting platform that our CUPE 3912 SMU members used in their December 2022 Mandate to Strike vote. Their 91.8% Yes vote supports their team for January 2023 conciliation talks.

Please vote. Under NS labour law a mandate in this case is a majority of members, not just a majority of those voting. Members who do not vote are counted as voting No. Our participation rate in this vote is important.

Mandate to Strike Vote – What does it mean?

A yes vote does not mean we are now on strike. A yes vote means our team can start a strike later on, if necessary.  A yes to a possible strike vote encourages the employer to reach a deal without a strike.

Some frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers about a CUPE 3912 Mandate to Strike vote are presented here.

Our MSVU employer’s May 2022 offer was 1%, 1%, 1.25%, and 1.25%, and that was conditional on not accepting our proposals on performance reviews, Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs), and committees.  We reached an impasse with the employer, and asked the NS Department of Labour to provide a Conciliator to help us overcome this impasse. Those conciliation talks start in January 2023.

Voting Yes is the best way to avoid a strike. A strong Yes vote demonstrates support for our efforts to improve our working conditions, and that we will take action, if necessary. In 2023, our resolve will not be underestimated by this employer. Voting Yes encourages more productive negotiations with the employer, and a new collective agreement, without actually going on strike.

A strike if necessary, but not necessarily a strike.

Your CUPE 3912 – MSVU Negotiating Team

https://cupe3912.ca/bargaining/msvu/negotiating-committee/

After two days of voting with an exceptional participation of 86.8% of CUPE 3912 eligible members at Saint Mary’s University (SMU), an overwhelming majority of 91.8% voted in favour of a strike mandate.

In the coming weeks, we will survey SMU members as to what might be an acceptable collective agreement, and will be establishing a Strike Committee at SMU.

On January 10, 2023, CUPE 3912’s Negotiating Committee at SMU will be meeting with the Administration’s Negotiating Team and a conciliator appointed by the Nova Scotia Department of Labour to negotiate a fair deal.

Thanks to the strong strike mandate at SMU, the upcoming negotiations will be influenced by the knowledge that we can call a strike at a very short notice in Winter 2023.

We are pleased to announce that we now have a tentative deal with Dalhousie’s Administration. This tentative agreement must still be ratified by the membership in order for it to be signed and for the strike to end. The link to vote has been sent by email from Simply Voting. If you have not received an email to vote please first check your spam folder and then email voting@cupe3912.ca.

Voting will be open until 11:55 PM (23:55) Friday, November 11th. 

Picketing (and strike pay) will continue until a tentative agreement is ratified.

In sum, the deal remains largely the same as the Dalhousie Administration’s previous offer with an additional raise for Marker/Demonstrators. We have also established a draft Return to Work plan that currently includes no loss of income for the period of the strike.

The 3 Documents of the Tentative Agreement:

The Changes to the Agreement includes changes that will be made to the previous Collective Agreement (2016-2020) to form the new Collective Agreement (2020-2024).

The Memorandum of the Agreement includes information regarding how the new Collective Agreement (2020-2024) will be formed (as described above) as well as how retroactive pay (additional pay for work performed from September 2020 – present) will be administered.

The Return to Work Agreement details the procedure for how the strike will end. This includes no loss of pay for TAs and PTAs for the duration of the strike. Markers/Demonstrators will continue to be paid for all hours worked.

Calculated Yearly Pay:

All years are academic years beginning Sept. 1st.

Teaching Assistants:

2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
$24.72	$25.02	$28.61	$30.05

Markers/Demonstrators:

2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
$16.82	$17.03	$23.52	$24.00

Part-Time Academics:

# of courses	2020-2021	2021-2022	# of courses	2022-2023	2023-2024
0-7 8-19 20+	$10,594.80 $12,133.80 $12,881.03	$10,727.24 $12,285.47 $13,042.04	0-13 14+	$12702.20 $14154.30	$12956.25 $14437.38

PTA salaries are for a 6-credit, 8-month “full course.” 

PTA salaries are categorized by the number of previously taught 3-credit, 4-month “half-courses.”

Clinical and Fountain School of Performing Arts Instructors:

Role	2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
Nursing DH PT/OT Pharmacy FSPA	$34.32 $40.14 $45.22 N/A $66.00	$45 $40.64 $45.78 N/A $66.83	$47.90 $43.40 $48.70 $50.00 $70.38	$48.85 $44.27 $49.68 $51.00 $71.79

While the deal is not perfect, the Negotiating Committee is recommending it as the best deal we can acquire for this bargaining period. This recommendation is required to bring the ratification vote to the membership.

All work done by CUPE 3912 members should stop for the length of the strike. If you continue to work, you will not be paid.

Bargaining Update

Due to all of our efforts, Dalhousie’s Administration returned to the bargaining table with a better offer, but one that did not meet all of our demands. For details visit our Bargaining Updates page.

Let’s keep up the pressure by picketing even harder to support our Negotiating Committee before and during their bargaining meetings.

Special Membership Meeting

6:30 pm on Tuesday, November 8, 2022

The meeting will be hybrid. You may attend either in-person at the DSU Council Chambers, on the 2nd floor of the SUB or via Zoom (check your email to RSVP).

Picketing Plan

November 7 – 10, 2022

Monday (Nov. 7)

• Rebecca Cohn Auditorium (Studley)

Tuesday (Nov. 8)

• Pharmacy Building (Carleton)

Wednesday (Nov. 9)

• Henry Hicks (Studley)

Thursday (Nov. 10)

• Engineering B Building (Sexton)

Picketing has reduced hours (10 AM – 4 PM) for reading week. No picketing on Remembrance Day.

Anyone can join, no prior signup required. Just show up, go to the tent to receive information, buttons, and a sign, and join the picket line. If you have an active contract, sign in and sign out on the timesheets at the tent to ensure you get strike pay. While everyone is welcome at any time, we encourage people to sign-up for our strike schedule. Please sign-up here:

Sign Up for Strike Duties

For those who cannot perform strike duties in person due to living far away from Halifax or having specific accommodation needs (immunocompromised or other), please contact DalRemoteDuties@cupe3912.ca.

Other Strike-Related Information

Strike Pay

• Our picketing schedule is Monday-Friday, but strike pay is recorded from Wednesday-Tuesday because our strike started on a Wednesday. You will only get paid for at most 20 hours of strike duties with a Wednesday-Tuesday week. Strike pay cheques become available on the following Friday. Please visit the Strike HQ in the SUB to receive your cheque (remote members will have their cheques mailed).

  Further detail on the development of the hardship fund will be available at the Special Membership Meeting.

Contact

• Most answers to questions you have can be found in the Strike FAQ and the Picketing FAQ.
  • If the FAQs do not have the information you need, please email one of the VPs or drop by the Strike HQ in the SUB (2nd floor, Boardroom B) during regular working hours.
• For media, please reach out to our Communications Officer, Gábor Lukács, at communications@cupe3912.ca, or our Outreach Coordinator, David Banoub, at outreach@cupe3912.ca.
• For other matters, contact us at office@cupe3912.ca.