University of Lethbridge strike - LNN

By Jerran Fisher/LethbridgeNewsNow

University of Lethbridge Faculty on strike

Feb 10, 2022 | 5:26 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The strike began Thursday outside the U of L at 11 a.m. because the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) and University’s board have not been able to come to an agreement after the collective agreement expired June 30, 2020, 590 days ago.

Daniel O’Donnell, president of the ULFA, says negotiations have fallen short because administrators won’t budge on “management rights.”

“Management rights is the right to be a boss instead of a leader… They tell you what to do, they tell you what to teach, they tell you how you’re going to teach, they tell the students when to show up, they tell the students when they can go away.”

He continues, “It’s the right to keep the people who understand the disciplines that we teach and research out of the process when you restructure a university.”

Outside the University of Lethbridge (LNN)

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Students who are attending the U of L will no longer be able to go to classes due to the strike.

Eli Huery, a student of the university, says the strike is disrupting his education but he supports the faculty members because they are who he interacts with every day.

Terrence Wong, another student, said, “As a student, I believe my education is tied with faculty and the profs, who have been giving me all this amazing support… without their support, my education would not be where it is right now.”

Spencer Locke, ULFA member on the negotiation team, says the U of L board isn’t negotiating in good faith.

He says his team has put proposals to the U of L board where the board accepted concessions but not demands.

Locke said, “We need to be able to negotiate in good faith, and what that means is we need to be able to discuss things. We need to be able to know that there’s some expectation of flexibility and fluidity in approaching different competing demands from different directions and different perspectives.”

The U of L board says its goal is to bargain in good faith with ULFA within fiscal realities.

ULFA is demanding a 12 per cent raise for faculty members.

The board believes this is too high, saying it is not sustainable to the University nor affordable to students attending.

“Our aim is to arrive at an agreement that is mutually acceptable to the Board and ULFA and enables the shared commitment of both parties”

The U of L recently underwent a 5.8 per cent decrease in funding from the Alberta Government, equal to about $5.7 million for the 2021/2022 school year.

Picketers outside U of L (LNN)

It is unknown how long the strike will last.

O’Donnell says the ULFA doesn’t want to strike, saying it is up to the board on when the strike ends. “We could stop tomorrow, we could stop the week after next… we can also sit it out for four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks; whatever they want.”

More than 500 faculty members are currently striking and taking shifts picketing in front of the university.