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Bargaining in Hard Times: Cape Breton University Faculty Association

Explore the challenges faced by CBUFA in bargaining during austerity and financial exigency, leading to a successful agreement that balanced interests.

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Bargaining in Hard Times: Cape Breton University Faculty Association

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  1. Bargaining in Hard Times: Cape Breton University Faculty Association Scott Stewart President ANSUT Former President, CBUFA

  2. Background & Context • O’Neill Report: 2010 • Cape Breton: Post Industrial & Declining Population • Declining enrollments (which tracked declining population) • 2008: Provincial MOU on university funding damaging for CBU. Updated enrollment numbers and enrollment emphasized more in funding – as opposed, e.g., to program costs and needs. • Saudi students appearance & disappearance

  3. Austerity Budget: 2015 • Spring, 2015: The BoG passed an austerity budget. • After consistently posting yearly $2M surpluses and having never had a deficit, CBU was worried about the current year and future ones. • Budget called for a $2.5M cut to expenses including a reduction in CBUFA members of 20-25 people (out of 150 Members). • CBU President Wheeler initiates ‘informal’ discussion groups with all CBU unions to discuss ways to reduce staffing. • CBUFA refuses to participate. • Article 39: Financial Exigency

  4. NS Labour Board Case • VRIPS: selective vs. across the board • Employer offers them to CBUFA Members without going through CBUFA. We filed the complaint on the basis that it constituted bargaining directly with our members. • The decision by the Labour Board in Fall, 2016, gave us a complete and categorical win. The Employer was then forced to bargain such packages through CBUFA.

  5. Employer opens Exigency Article • CBUFA mounts aggressive response including having Janet and Cameron Morrill (U. of Manitoba) do an audit of CBU’s finances. • Employer publicly admits there is only a fear of financial exigency in the future. • Committee established to determine financial exigency: as per CA, it has 2 Employer choices, 2 CBUFA choices and a Chair chosen by both sides. • Ultimately determines that layoffs MAY be necessary but the Employer (1) needs to look at all other cost savings measures first, and (2) the Employer needed to provide much more detailed financial information. • A 2nd committee formed to do this.

  6. Bargaining: July,2016-January,2017 • Article 39 (exigency) soon began the sole issue for bargaining. • Employer refuses to discuss it; we wouldn’t discuss anything else until that issue was resolved. • Conciliation: Just before it was due to fail, President Wheeler asked to meet with CBUFA chief negotiator. They reached a deal, which accepted almost all of our language on exigency. • Wheeler & Chair of BoG meeting with CBUFA negotiating team met and both sides sign the tentative deal. • CBUFA ratifies agreement

  7. Bargaining: July,2016-January,2017 • Wheeler put on administrative leave in November. • At December BoG meeting Wheeler ‘fired’, the VPA becomes interim President (Dale Keefe, who was a member of the Employer negotiating team and now VPA at Acadia). The Board overwhelmingly passes rejects the tentative deal. • Both Chair of BoG and Acting President Keefe say they had no problem with the content of the tentative deal, only the process by which it was achieved. • Yet, when the two teams met again, the Employer refused to accept the previous deal or put new language on the table.

  8. Bargaining: July,2016-January,2017 • Union files a bad faith bargaining charge. • CBUFA sets Jan. 23 as strike date. • Final conciliation meeting during cooling off period. • Just before strike date, Employer agrees to new language on exigency • Not as good as the initial tentative agreement but better than our former language. • Both sides ratify.

  9. Lessons • Use whatever language you have in your CA, even if it isn’t that good, instead of agreeing to ‘informal’ discussions where the Employer holds all the power. • Use whatever resources you can to make your case. The report by the Morrill’s was terrific in many ways: (1) our members believed the CBUFA about the lack of financial exigency, (2) so did students, (3) effective bad oppress for the Employer, (4) was used in official meetings of the Exigency Committee. • Use whatever legal or quasi legal mechanisms you can. Our Labour Board victory had a huge positive impact for us and a huge negative one for the Employer. • Keep members fully informed even if some are against you. • Use strike threat effectively. In my opinion, we should have set a strike date in the fall.

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