History of strikes at Dal

Gazette LogoThis isn’t the only time in the past two decades that Dal has faced a possibility of a strike. Here’s how the

past two decades of DFA strikes worked out:

  • http://punditry.ca/ Mike Smit

    A glaring absence: the 2004 CUPE strike is not covered but the 1997 non-strike is.

    For that matter, “last few negotiations” would suggest you should include NSGEU/NUPGE voting to strike just last year, and… Ok, really, what you should do is change it “last two decades of DFA negotiations” and drop the 1997 note about TAs. At the moment it includes a mere fraction of the negotiations since 1990.

    If the text is adjusted to “last few DFA negotiations”, then another omission is the 2004 DFA negotiations which concluded without a strike or a conciliator. For completeness, the 1994 negotiations could also be included (since the timeline goes back to 1990).

    The issues listed for 2002 – “salaries and job security” – exclude faculty complement, which was a key sticking point at the time.

    • Torey Ellis

      Thanks for your corrections, Mike.  I’ve updated the timeline to reflect them.

      You’re right, it makes little sense to include the TA negotiations without delving into all the other non-DFA strikes, and it’s misleading as well. I included it because I was intrigued by the timing – almost exactly the same time as the DFA negotiations, with very different results – but it’s gone now, at least until I can look into a broader range of strikes.

      I’ve also included the 2004 strike, but I’ve been able to find very little information on it. The DFA likely has records, but says they can’t find them. All they can say is an agreement was reached during conciliation. Our Gazette archives only really covered negotiations if they were very close to striking, and I guess the 2004 talks didn’t make the cut. I’m hoping to find time to do some more extensive research. This timeline will evolve as I find more details, and we’ll make sure to make it clear when that happens.