Contract faculty at Algoma University are one step closer to a strike after a long day of conciliation failed to result in an agreement. While frustrating for those working hard at the bargaining table, recent events have shown that Algoma’s contract faculty are organized and the public is on their side.
In advance of the conciliation session, faculty, students, staff, and community members showed their support for Algoma’s contract faculty by sending over 293 letters to the university’s President and the Chair of the Board of Governors. The letter demands the university avoid a strike by providing contract faculty with a fair deal. To send your own letter of support, click here.
The local Labour Council showed its solidarity by meeting with contract faculty and making it clear that the workers in Sault Ste. Marie would stand with faculty if job action is necessary. Contract faculty representatives also met and briefed local provincial candidates for the NDP and Conservatives, both of whom expressed a desire to see a deal reached and a strike averted.
Despite a blizzard, contact faculty and students leafleted together in support of Sault Ste. Marie’s part-time library staff. Precarious workers, regardless of sector, are standing together in the struggle for better working conditions and good jobs. Even students understand that, by standing up for workers’ rights now, they are improving their chances of a having a good job when they graduate.
With the support of the community, and a strong, principled position at the bargaining table, contract faculty at Algoma are prepared to walk of the job unless the university meets their fair and reasonable demands.
For more information and media coverage about the great work Algoma’s contract faculty have been doing, see the links below.
- AUFA disappointed with results of conciliation
- Part-time workers come together for a fair contract
- Union to union, supporting each other
- Part-time faculty may strike at Algoma University
- Part-time Algoma university faculty and administration will be in conciliation Feb. 7.
- Wednesday Morning News – February 1st
- CTV News coverage