Breaking news: Dalhousie part-time faculty narrowly avoids strike, reaches agreement with university

Dalhousie University narrowly avoided its second labour disruption of the term, after reaching a tentative agreement with the union representing its part-time faculty and teaching assistants late Monday night. 

The Canadian Union for Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3912 planned to strike on Tuesday morning if it could not reach a collective agreement with the university’s board of governors. In August, almost 90 per cent of members voted in favour of striking if necessary. 

“We believe this agreement is a fair deal and will set us up to continue to make progressive gains in future rounds of bargaining,” said a letter from CUPE 3912’s Dalhousie bargaining committee to their members. 

Members of CUPE 3912 include part-time instructors, teaching assistants, markers and demonstrators at Dalhousie. The union has been without a deal since August 2024. 

The strike would have cancelled all classes and tutorials taught by CUPE members. Classes taught by full-time faculty would’ve also been affected; all student work marked by teaching assistants wouldn’t be marked for the duration of the strike. 

The strike would have been the university’s second labour disruption of the fall term. Dalhousie locked out almost 1,000 members of its faculty association on Aug. 20, cancelling all classes taught by members until the two parties reached an agreement on Sept. 16. 

Classes taught by CUPE members have been running since the start of the fall term, even while all other classes were cancelled. 

CUPE members will vote to ratify the tentative collective agreement in the coming days, and the university’s board needs to agree to the agreement’s final terms. Heading into bargaining, the union sought wage increases in line with Halifax’s cost of living, job security and healthcare benefits. 

“The parties would like to extend their appreciation to all bargaining team members who volunteered their time to be involved in this important process,” said Grace Jefferies, Dalhousie vice-president of people and culture, in a Monday night statement. 

The details of the tentative deal will be made public once the agreement is ratified by Dalhousie’s board of governors and CUPE 3912’s membership.