May 2, 2018

To the surprise of your Negotiations Team, on May 2, the Employer filed for conciliation and cancelled the May 3 regular bargaining session. Your team was even more surprised to see the Employer’s email just sent today to the Carleton Community, suggesting that conciliation is mutually beneficial and that positive talks to date require the assistance of a conciliator.

On April 20, the Employer provided only one counter to CUASA’s monetary proposals. The Employer completely rejected a gender pay equity plan and also reserved on several items in the proposal. The Employer only offered a total of 8 hours to negotiate during the month of May and address numerous outstanding proposals.

On April 20, your team reminded the Employer that there were still many questions left unanswered. The Employer committed to providing those answers. Your union has the right to disclosure on information but instead of providing answers, the Employer requested conciliation. The union’s questions were on subjects such as pensions, past practices and teaching evaluations. Based on the Employer’s behaviour, your team has reason to believe that the Employer is preparing for an unnecessary lock-out.

Although your team agrees that talks were remaining somewhat positive and productive up until that point, we do not agree with the Employer’s latest email statement. The Employer has decided to unnecessarily rush a deal instead of negotiating a fair one.

This is a procedural ambush on the negotiation process. By withholding information from your team and refusing to even review CUASA’s first offer on benefits (PER, extended benefits, pension, dental), the Employer has left your team believing that April 20 was nothing more than a procedural set-up.

In light of the Employer’s actions, CUASA is left with no other choice but to begin preparing its membership for the possibility of a lock-out.

Your Negotiations Team is making all reasonable efforts to keep the Employer at the table for May 16. Failing that, your team is committed to work with a conciliator for as many sessions as it takes in order to achieve a fair deal during the summer months.

Your Next Steps:

1) Read CUASA’s letter to the Employer here.

2) Fill out the personal contact information form here.

3) Sign-up to volunteer for the lock-out planning committee by emailing chi.cheng.wat@cuasa.ca.

4) Attend upcoming information sessions and events to learn how to prepare. Click here for the meeting schedule.

5) Find out more about the conciliation process here. Find out the difference between strikes and lock-outs here.

Stay Informed

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