Saying they were “very disappointed in the results of mediation,” faculty at Capilano University campuses on and off Coast walked off the job Wednesday, vowing not to resume work until the employer responded to their latest package proposal.
The Capilano Faculty Asso-ciation (CFA) posted on its website April 8 that the recent package tabled by the association “included significant movement on our part” and noted “we have agreed to continue bargaining when they are ready to respond.”
The CFA and Capilano University have been working on penning a new contract, which will last nearly five years, since last December. Their previous contract, which spanned four years (2010 to 2014) was not settled until February 2014 and it expired the very next month.
The new contract will cover workers from 2014 to 2019, and although both sides have agreed to a government mandated 5.5 per cent wage increase, three main issues remain concerns for the CFA: job security and regularization, having a democratic workplace, and fair compensation and equity.
Under the theme of job security the CFA wants limitations on the employer’s layoff practices.
“We are not asking for ‘no layoffs’ under any circumstance, but only reductions and layoffs where the university is in serious funding shortage, where courses are proven to be redundant (no longer needed) and where enrolment is seriously inadequate,” an information bulletin from the CFA stated.
The CFA also wants non-regular employees to be eligible for regular status after three years, to include language in the collective agreement that protects “academic freedom” and to provide non-regular employees with an improved pay grid.
Capilano University, however, said in a release that it has already “addressed many of the CFA’s concerns including a 5.5 per cent wage increase, reference to academic freedom and mechanisms to avoid involuntary reductions.”
The university also stated it “cannot agree to proposals outside of the financial mandate, such as those that result in increased regularization where there is no ongoing funding” or to CFA proposals “that restrain the university board from carrying out its budget related responsibilities.”
While the two sides sat at an impasse Wednesday, Capilano University students were feeling the pressure.
About 20 faculty members walked off the job at the Sunshine Coast campus, leaving nearly 120 local students, with just three days left of school before final exams are set to start, concerned about graduation.
“For the Sunshine Coast campus specifically, we have had to close the campus, and so students aren’t going to have access to the facilities. But we only have three days left in the term, so there’s only going to be a very minimal impact on the learning that would have taken place during that time,” assured Rick Gale, Capilano University VP academic and provost.
“We anticipate that all of them will be able to complete their program, and those who are qualified to graduate will be able to do so.”
The university is optimistic that negotiations will begin again with the CFA soon, allowing for final exams to take place as scheduled.
“It would be premature to cancel them at this point. We’ve proposed to the CFA that we will meet 24-7 to come to a resolution to this, and I do believe we can find that before Monday,” Gale said.
There were no meetings scheduled between the CFA and Capilano University at Coast Reporter’s press time Thursday.
