Nova ScotiaDalhousie University employees that include part-time instructors and teaching assistants have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate ahead of conciliation talks with the school in October.Conciliation talks with university will begin Oct. 2CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2025 11:56 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoPart-time instructors and teaching assistants at Dalhousie University have voted in favour of a strike mandate in advance of conciliation talks in October. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)Dalhousie University employees that include part-time instructors and teaching assistants have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate ahead of conciliation talks with the school in October.It is a second contract dispute for the university with 1,000 Dalhousie Faculty Association professors, librarians, instructors and professional counsellors on the picket line due to a lockout.In a release on Friday, CUPE Local 3912 said its members at Dalhousie were 87.7 per cent in favour of the mandate.The union says it’s focused on fair wages for workers that reflect the cost of living in Halifax, better job security, and access to basic health benefits. The union will next return to the bargaining table with the university for conciliation on Oct. 2.”The university knows now that we are serious about achieving a fair and equitable contract,” the union said in the release. The Dalhousie Faculty Association has been locked out since Aug. 20.Classes at the university are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but any taught by DFA members are suspended. Classes taught by non-DFA members, including part-time instructors, will go ahead. CUPE Local 3912 members at Dalhousie previously went on strike in 2022 after two years of contract negotiations that resulted in an impasse. At that time there were around 1,500 CUPE members at DalhousieWages were a big focus of those discussions, which ended with a ratified contract that offered a 23 per cent pay raise over four years to all teaching assistants, and a course contract wage increase of 23 per cent over four years for new part-time academic instructors.That collective agreement, which began on Sept. 1, 2020, expired on Aug. 31, 2024.In an email, Dalhousie University said it began negotiating a new agreement this past spring and that CUPE filed for conciliation in August.The university said it remains “optimistic a deal can be reached” and that no strike action would be possible until conciliation has ended and a 14-day cooling-off period has finished.
Dalhousie teaching assistants, part-time instructors approve strike mandate
