Laurentian University and the union representing its faculty sit down at the bargaining table next week to try to hammer out a deal for the first time since a contract was signed “under duress” in 2021, during the university’s time under creditor protection.
More details of the negotiations will be provided at a press conference to be held by the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) on Nov. 17, Sudbury.com has learned.
The university’s last contract with LUFA, which had a five-year term retroactive to July 1, 2020 and ran to June 30, 2025, was overseen by court-appointed mediator Justice Sean Dunphy as part of the university's insolvency restructuring.
Fast-forward more than four years, and the two sides are in bargaining again, this time without insolvency law involved.
Asked if there could be a strike, LUFA president Fabrice Colin said “job action is always a possibility. As you know, that’s adding pressure to the employer for a fair deal.”
The two sides already started meeting on non-contentious issues last week, and exchange full bargaining packages on Monday.
Colin said the union does not have a strike mandate from members as of yet, as this would be premature.
As to why there’s been such a gap between the expiry of their collective agreement and substantial bargaining, Colin said there’s been a lot of “hurdles” to get to this point, although he did not clarify what he meant.
Faculty are hoping for both a “fair deal and a quick one too,” Colin said, adding that after the concessions during the CCAA, members want issues such as their salary and workload addressed.
They also want their pension plan out of the hands of Laurentian University. “That's a message we strongly received through a survey that was circulated a year and a half ago,” Colin said.
LUFA’s counterpart union, the Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU), signed a three-year contract with the university in July 2024.
Sudbury.com also reached out to Laurentian University for comment on the negotiations, asking for an interview with president Lynn Wells. We instead received a brief written statement.
"Laurentian is committed to productive negotiations with the faculty association. Faculty members and teaching staff are at the heart of the university’s commitment to deliver an exceptional student experience, to lead innovative research, and to reach our strategic objectives,” said the statement from Wells’ office.
“They are valued and respected members of the university community. We will provide further updates directly to the university community as negotiations progress."
The April 2021 term sheet for the contract with LUFA included, among other concessions, an immediate five-per-cent salary cut, followed by a salary freeze for two years, and three years of one-per-cent salary increases.
It also included five furlough days per year for three years (up to 2023-2024).
The term sheet also laid out that 116 faculty members would be terminated or have the option to retire as part of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA) process. Laurentian also announced that month it had cut more than 70 programs.
In the end, 81 per cent of LUFA members voted in favour of the contract, but at the time, Colin said it was a vote under duress, “because the alternative was the failure of the ratification vote and therefore the failure of the CCAA process.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.