Contract Academic Staff will be in a legal strike position as of Nov. 28, as the Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued a No Board report that was requested by the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association.
CAS instructors – which includes 376 part-time professors – voted 90.6 per cent in favour of a strike. The union can call its members to strike at any time.
The university and WLUFA will be meeting with a mediator on Nov. 26 to continue contract negotiations. This is the next step after conciliation, which took place on Oct. 23 and Nov. 4.
In an earlier interview with The Cord, WLUFA president William Salatka explained, “With mediation, the government appoints a mediator who has a lot more power … the conciliator can suggest but the mediator has more power.”
Kevin Crowley acting assistant vice-president of communications, public affairs and marketing for WLU, said that the university continues to have an interest in negotiations between the parties and believes that progress has been made.
“We were surprised that WLUFA thinks there was an impasse,” he said.
The ongoing negotiations do not involve full-time faculty. WLUFA and university officials have met more than 20 times since negotiations began in mid-May, but have been unable to reach an agreement.