Nova ScotiaMembers of the Dalhousie Faculty Association have voted strongly to reject a contract offer from the university’s board of governors.Union has been locked out by university since Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.CBC News · Posted: Aug 22, 2025 7:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoDalhousie Faculty Association members walk the picket line on Wednesday. (Galen McRae/CBC)Members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association who were locked out earlier this week have voted strongly to reject a contract offer from the university’s board of governors, less than two weeks before the start of the school’s fall term.In a news release on Friday, the union said that 82.7 per cent of voters voted to reject the Aug. 11 offer from the school, which offered two per cent increases in salary for each of the next three years. Ninety-three per cent of the union’s 981 members participated in the vote, which concluded at 4 p.m. Thursday.The faculty association’s last proposal sought increases of 3.75 per cent, 4.75 per cent and 5.75 per cent over three years. The previous collective agreement expired on June 30.”This sends a clear message that the DFA members are willing to stay the course,” president Dave Westwood said in the news release. “Spirits among our picketers is sky high, and support from other faculty associations and unions is strong. It’s time for the board to come back to the table with something that our members can seriously consider.”The union has said wage increases have not kept pace with inflation in the last decade. The university has argued Dalhousie is facing financial challenges and its compensation is in the mid-range when compared to other large Canadian universities.The average annual salary for full-time teaching staff at Dalhousie last year was $159,350, according to Statistics Canada, with full professors earning the most. Eighty per cent of teaching staff earned between $110,000 and $213,550.Members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association, which includes nearly 1,000 professors, instructors, librarians and professional counsellors, have been locked out by Dalhousie since 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. At that time, the faculty association countered with a 48-hour strike notice. The strike began on Friday at 9:30 a.m.David Westwood, the president of the Dalhousie Faculty Association, is shown on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025, in Halifax. (Galen McRae/CBC)Members hit the picket lines Wednesday morning at a number of locations around the Halifax campus. A picket line at Dalhousie’s Agricultural Campus in Bible Hill was also active on Thursday. Westwood has previously said the union never intended to strike in August as students were about to return, and the intent of the “defensive strike” is to wrest some control from Dalhousie so it simply can’t “flip a switch” and suddenly dictate that faculty return to work.”The entire fall semester has now been thrown into utter and complete chaos,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen. It’s unclear when and if the fall semester will get underway.”In a statement issued to the university community announcing the school’s intention to lock out faculty association members on Monday, Dalhousie president Kim Brooks said a labour disruption had become inevitable.”If so, it is better for the university for it to happen now, in August, instead of commencing after fall term classes begin, when the consequences for students would be much more severe.”A rally is planned for noon Friday in front of the Killam Memorial Library on University Avenue, the faculty association said. All classes taught by faculty have been suspended by the university.The school has previously said that campuses will remain open regardless of the lockout situation.
Locked-out Dalhousie Faculty Association members reject contract offer
