The president of the Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU) said she thinks the university is aiming to lock out her almost 250 members starting next month.
The two sides were in conciliation talks on July 15, but the talks broke down, and the university asked for a “no board” report to be issued by the Ministry of Labour, said Tracy Oost.
A no board report is issued when the two sides in a labour dispute are still very far apart. Mediation has been scheduled for August 8 and 9 as a “last ditch” attempt to avoid a lockout or strike, which could happen as soon as August 10, she said.
The union can legally go on strike or be locked out 17 days after a no board report is issued, she said. The no board report has not yet been issued because the province is still processing the paperwork.
“What that usually means, if the employer is asking for a no board report, is that they want to lock us out. It's not even a matter of us getting to a strike,” said Oost.
Tom Zsolnay, Laurentian's executive director of university advancement, denied that the university is planning to lock the union out.
“I guess that (Oost's statement about the university wanting a lockout) means that every time a union asks for it (a no board report), they must want a strike,” he said.
“It doesn't mean that (we want a lockout). It just means that the conciliator has certain deadlines. We were at an impasse at the end of July 15, so that's when it moved forward.”
LUSU represents clerical, secretarial, maintenance, printing, library workers, technicians and technologists at the university. The union's three-year collective agreement expired June 30.
Oost said she is trying to negotiate a one-year collective agreement, but if she's able to get an acceptable agreement, she'll ask for it to be extended for three years.
A strike or lockout would impact negatively on students because they would have to wait for long periods of time to cross picket lines and perhaps miss classes, said Oost. Some labs are also taught by technologists, who are members of LUSU, she said.
Zsolnay, however, said students would be inconvenienced by a labour disruption, but their classes would not be compromised.
“It's important to recognize that this is the staff union, it's not the faculty union. The faculty will still be teaching. With the total full-time complement at the university, we've got about 900 employees. (LUSU) represents just under 250...There are still going to be lots of people around,” he said.
“I'm not going to say it will have no impact, because these people obviously all do good work. It just means things will be a little bit slower. But classes will continue.”
The union president said the two sides are far apart in negotiations.
Oost said the university is asking for several concessions, including changes to seniority, decreasing the time off allowed to go to see a doctor, and the elimination of a harassment grievance policy which was included in the last collective agreement.
“The university has got some serious financial problems, and apparently they're trying to solve their problems on the backs of LUSU members,” Oost said.
“I'm trying to look at the glass as half full. Hopefully, if the university gets down to the pressure of being down to the wire, that will do something.”
Zsolnay said he is also hopeful that the two sides will come to an agreement.
“Of course (I'm hopeful). In any case, just because LUSU's in a strike position and we're in a lockout position, doesn't mean either side has to move on anything just because we're there. So we're certainly hopeful that we can continue negotiating without any disruptions and come to an agreement.”
