Some post-secondary students returning to class in Greater Sudbury next month are facing the prospect of more labour unrest among their professors.
In the fall of 2017, Laurentian University faculty members (who are represented by the Laurentian University Faculty Association, or LUFA), went on strike for a little more than a week. College professors across the province also went on strike for five weeks in the fall of 2017.
As well as Laurentian University faculty members, LUFA also represents full and part-time faculty at the University of Sudbury, Huntington University and Thorneloe University, federated universities located on Laurentian's campus.
The union said it has recently been in talks with the University of Sudbury. It hopes to reach an agreement with the university “that ensures faculty are no longer paid substantially less than their colleagues at Laurentian,” said a press release.
After over 14 days of talks, progress has been made in many areas, but the need for fair pay and job security for contract faculty are key issues that the administration refuses to meaningfully address, the press release said.
“The discrepancy in pay is quite concerning,” said Fabrice Colin, president of LUFA.
“Individual faculty at the University of Sudbury are paid up to 30 per cent less than their colleagues at the same rank and with the same number of years of experience, despite doing exactly the same teaching, research, and service work of which the University of Sudbury and Laurentian University are so proud and upon which students depend.”
In addition to the lack of fair pay, the University of Sudbury has increasingly relied on the expertise of part-time faculty to maintain the integrity of programs in Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Folklore, and Études journalistiques, the press release said.
“Part-time faculty at the University of Sudbury still face substantial challenges planning ahead as they face uncertainty over which classes, if any, they will be teaching from term to term,” said Réal Fillion, chief negotiator for the faculty association. “That’s why improving the working conditions and job security for part-time faculty is a priority for us.”
LUFA was hoping to engage with the conciliator and have a deal in place before classes start, but the university declared itself unavailable, even on weekends, until September 14.
Given the uncertainty created for returning students, LUFA is disappointed that the University of Sudbury did not make it a priority to reach an agreement, the press release said.
