Part-time faculty at Saint Mary’s University, SMU, will be on the picket line, joining fellow members of CUPE 3912 at Mount Saint Vincent University, MSVU, who took strike action yesterday. Bargaining hit an impasse Wednesday evening, after a full day of negotiations at SMU.
Like part-time faculty at MSVU, the key issues on the table are job security and compensation. Workers are seeking improvements to stipends as well as a contract guarantee provision, which would ensure a member who has taught a certain number of courses per term for three consecutive years is guaranteed contracts for that same number of courses for the following three years.
Currently, part-time faculty are required to apply for a separate contract for every course they teach, every term, even if they have taught the same course before. Many members work for years with no guarantee of income beyond short, months-long contracts.
Part-time faculty at SMU are also among the lowest paid university instructors across the country. They have no health benefits, no pension, no job security, and no pathway to permanent employment.
Erica Fischer, part-time instructor and CUPE 3912 Vice-President, said: “Our working conditions are students’ learning conditions. Our fight today makes for a better classroom tomorrow.”
CUPE 3912 represents part-time faculty, teaching assistants, and independent course appointees at Mount Saint Vincent University, Saint Mary’s University, Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, NSCAD.
A tentative agreement was reached with CUPE 3912 and Dalhousie University on Monday, October 20. Details of that tentative agreement will not be shared until members have had the opportunity to review and ratify the terms, which will take place as soon as possible.