Some classes suspended as Dalhousie University lockout continues

Many Dalhousie University classes are suspended due to the ongoing lockout.

Numerous classes at Dalhousie University are suspended as an ongoing lockout of hundreds of professors, librarians, instructors and professional counsellors continues into the fall semester.

The semester officially began on Tuesday, but members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association will be on the picket line instead of in the classrooms as their labour dispute with the university approaches the three-week mark.

“I think students are increasingly more frustrated,” said Maren Mealey, president of the Dalhousie Student Union. “Students are becoming increasingly more aware that we’re now getting into the time where we’re spending tuition and we’re not having classes. That tuition is being paid regardless if we’re getting an education.

“We’re paying to be here and we’re not having classes.”

According to the Dalhousie website, any courses taught by union members have been suspended but select classes are going forward in the following departments:

• agriculture
• architecture and planning
• arts and social sciences
• College of Sustainability
• computer science
• dentistry
• engineering
• graduate studies
• health
• management
• medicine
• open learning and career development
• Schulich School of Law
• science
• University of King’s College

“I think there’s an opportunity for students to make their frustrations known,” Mealey said. “We do need to get back to classes sooner rather than later.”

“I feel like I’m not really getting the whole experience,” said student Kayla Fougere.

Dalhousie locked out the union members on Aug. 21 following months of negotiations to strike a new collective agreement. The Association’s previous three-year deal expired at the end of June.

The union is requesting a total wage increase of 14.25 per cent across three years while the university has issued a final offer of a six per cent increase over three years.

The Association is also looking for expanded parental leave benefits and access to child care along with increased flexibility of class scheduling policies for caregiving responsibilities.

Last week the university’s board of governors offered interest arbitration to the union to end the lockout, but the Association rejected it, saying the process would only focus on wages.

“The Board deliberately misrepresented their offer in their messaging, omitting the key detail that their proposal on interest arbitration required the DFA to abandon all unresolved proposals except wages,” said Dave Westwood, president of the Association, in a news release.

The Association filed a bargaining complaint with the Nova Scotia Department of Labour, citing Dalhousie’s use of public messages to direct bargain with members. It’s calling on the labour minister to order the board of governors back to the negotiating table.

Grace Jefferies, vice president of people and culture with the university, previously said the board does not feel a return to the bargaining table would be productive, but the offer of interest arbitration remains open.

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Vanessa Wright

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