Affected Laurentian faculty to get termination notices Monday

Laurentian University staff await news of layoffs Tension is building among people who work at Laurentian University. The faculty union says termination notices are expected Monday.

Sudbury — It's going to be an incredibly difficult few days for the faculty at Laurentian University as the union that represents them has been warned termination notices are coming on Monday.

It's the latest step in the university's first phase of restructuring as it tries to find a way back into the black.

"It'll be followed by a ratification meeting on Monday evening around 5 p.m. and then we'll hold another meeting on pension Tuesday morning and then the vote on a new collective agreement will close on Tuesday at 5 p.m.," said Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) president Fabrice Colin.

A collective agreement in place for faculty would be key to any restructuring plans. The current agreement expired in July 2020.

Colin said the mood right now is tense for his 375 full-time members and 250-300 part-time members who are waiting to hear details of the senate's restructuring plan.

"It's been, as you can imagine, a lot of stress and anxiety to our faculty members," he said. "We would have preferred a lot more transparency and that's unfortunate again that the administration chose to go down the path of CCAA proceedings."

LUFA has said there were several other options the school could have taken instead of insolvency. Colin also said the province could have done more to fix the current situation.

In the meantime, some staff like Dan Scott, an associate librarian at the university, are doing what they can to help.

Scott's created a set of instructions showing faculty how they can backup their work in the event they find themselves affected.

"It kind of harkens back to my first job as a technical writer, so it's easy for me and it gives me a sense of some sort of control in a very chaotic situation and I hope it helps other people with some sense of control over their own situations," he told CTV News.

While he doesn't know how many people have taken him up on his instructions, he can see it has been downloaded. He's also received thanks from the LUFA executive.

"None of us don't know what the future holds right now, students don't know if their programs are going to continue to be available," Scott said. "Our family is suffering right now so if there's anything we can do to try and mitigate that a little bit, a little kindness goes a long way."

It's a similar situation at Innova Wealth Partners, where Jean-François Démoré, a financial adviser, is offering free pension advice to those that are affected.

Both of his parents are former faculty at Laurentian and he felt compelled to reach out and help.

"Definitely a lot of good memories there and I definitely want to see the institution succeed and all the people who poured their heart and soul into the organization," Démoré said. "I want to make sure in this time of need, I can use my time and skills to help them out."

CTV News did reach out to Laurentian University and was referred to its website for further updates.

A public senate meeting has been scheduled for April 20.