APUO SUCCEEDS WITH STRIKE MANDATE VOTE, GIVING THE UNION THE POSSIBILITY TO PROTEST
Following an unsuccessful round of conciliation meetings between the University of Ottawa and the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO), APUO has held a strike mandate vote proposed by the union’s executive committee. Results were announced Thursday: 80.9 per cent of members voted in favour of going on strike, if necessary.
The possibility of this vote was announced at their Oct. 15 protest held on Tabaret lawn.
The APUO – which represents 1,300 full-time professors and librarians at the University of Ottawa – could go on strike as early as the first week of February 2025.
Per a statement released by the APUO, both parties have agreed to resume negotiations with a conciliator from the Ontario Ministry of Labour between Jan.15 and 17 of the new year. Neither the union or the university will call for a no-board report before the reopening of negotiations; a crucial step in being able to declare a strike.
During the APUO’s special general assembly on Wednesday, chief negotiator, Dalie Giroux, told union members “we have clearly, and on multiple occasions, shown at the negotiation table that we are ready to make compromises, but we need to talk about our four-key demands,” which addresses employee workload, equity, rights, the protection for high quality education and research and the inclusion of the union within key decisions for the university.
Giroux stated that “It was only in our negotiation and conciliation day in October, that we started to open the discussion on the work floor,” crediting that to presenting the U of O with a majority petition that 75 per cent of members had signed.
Giroux continued, “If we go into the conciliation meetings [in Jan.] with a strike notice, we will be in a position to keep advancing [in receiving our demands].” But, she noted that within their strategy they will “always go back to the table […] let’s be clear, we don’t want a strike.”
Spokesperson for the U of O, Jesse Robichaud, told the Fulcrum: “From the beginning, we have demonstrated our commitment to bargaining in good faith, and arriving at a negotiated settlement with the APUO that advances our research and teaching mission.” He continued, “We entered conciliation with optimism … we continue to believe that it is possible to reach a settlement.”
Also present at the special general meeting were: the University of Ottawa Students’ Union, Canadian Union of Public Employees local 2626, the Association of Part-Time Professors of the University of Ottawa, the Support Staff of the University of Ottawa Union, and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
The Fulcrum will continue to cover negotiations as they progress in the new year.
