Dalhousie faculty and supporters rally for job security amid lockout

Cheers of “shame!” echoed outside the Killam Library on Friday afternoon as students, faculty and staff protested against Dalhousie University’s lockout of its faculty.

The Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA) has spent a decade fighting for job security for short-term contracted faculty, while Dal’s board of governors has “consistently rejected efforts” to improve job security, according to a Sept. 5 DFA statement.  

Approximately 15 per cent of DFA members are contract faculty without permanent employment. 

Hundreds of DFA members and supporters attended the rally, including representatives from unions and universities across the country. 

Faculty associations from over a dozen Canadian universities donated thousands of dollars to support the DFA during the lockout. At the rally, the association received a $1 million cheque from the CAUT Defence Fund, an organization that provides strike pay to Canadian faculty associations during strikes and lockouts. 

Biology instructor Jennifer Frail-Gauthier has worked at the university for 13 years.

“I was a disposable faculty member, despite teaching the same courses year after year, semester after semester,” says Frail-Gauthier.

“I taught while doing my PhD and raising young kids, who are over five years apart, because I could not afford two kids in daycare, she says. “I probably will never own a home, and I’m most definitely still paying my student loans, but somehow, I stuck with it because I love teaching so much.”

Tony Walker, an environmental studies professor, has worked at Dalhousie for 11 years. Walker started his career “later than other professors” and says he took a “massive pay cut” when he came to Dalhousie. 

He previously worked in the private sector, “where if you work hard and do a good job, they actually reward you, unlike [Dalhousie],” says Walker. “Elsewhere, people are valued.”

Dalhousie’s fall term was set to begin on Sept. 2, but the university cancelled most classes amid the ongoing contract dispute. 

In a Sept. 4 statement, university spokesperson Grace Jefferies said Dalhousie informed the DFA that they are available to meet on the day of the rally and “work towards an agreement” before planned talks on Monday. 

“Time is of the essence for our students, our faculty, and our entire Dalhousie community. If talks can be productive, and result in an outcome that allows our academic mission to resume in full, we see no reason to wait until Monday,” the statement said. 

“The Board welcomes the opportunity to continue to work towards resolving the current labour disruption.”

Rose Silivestru, a first-year law student and the creator of the Dal Lockout social media accounts, says the university is treating students like “a cheap bargaining chip.”

“I have never had so much at stake in a conversation where I have so little say,” Silivestru says. “I moved my family across the country for this; I drained my savings account; I sold all of my belongings that wouldn’t fit in my car; I drove for three days to get here.

Isaac Saney, a Black and African Diaspora Studies professor, spoke to the crowd about the importance of bargaining in good faith.

“Our fight is not just about contracts and clauses, it is about defending the most fundamental democratic right of workers, everywhere — the right to fair and free collective bargaining,” Saney says. “This right is under attack.

“If allowed to continue, it corrodes the core of the university, undermines scholarship and silences independent voices vital to a democratic society,” he says. “We will fight for our rights, for our students, for the integrity of higher education and the dignity of workers everywhere.”

Following speeches, the crowd marched to deliver a petition signed by over 500 supporters to Dalhousie President Kim Brooks at the Henry Hicks building. Boos rippled through the crowd as the masses chanted, “Let us in,” while DFA President Dave Westwood yanked on the locked doors, unable to enter the building. 

“We demand a pathway to permanence for every single one of our limited-term colleagues,” says Westwood. “There will be no contract ratified unless our demands are met.

“We will see you Monday at the bargaining table.”