Nova Scotia

Dalhousie, faculty union reach tentative labour agreement

The tentative agreement still has to be ratified by faculty association members and the university's board of governors. 

Deal reached with help from conciliator appointed in October

Two students walk towards the Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building at Dalhousie University.
The faculty association and university administration had been negotiating a new collective agreement after its previous deal expired earlier this year. (Robert Guertin/CBC)

The association that represents about 1,000 teaching and support staff at Dalhousie University in Halifax has reached a tentative contract agreement with university administrators. 

In an email to the university community, Dalhousie said the two bargaining teams met with a government conciliator on Friday and resolved the outstanding issues.

Shortly before Christmas, a conciliator put forward a set of recommendations. At the time, the faculty association said it was willing to accept all of the recommendations.

However, the university said while it was able to agree on pensions and salary, it could not accept the recommendations on an education leave policy for some instructors.  

The tentative agreement reached Friday still has to be ratified by the faculty association members and the university's board of governors. 

"The details of the tentative deal will be made available once the board and the membership of DFA [faculty association] have ratified the collective agreement," Dalhousie's email to faculty, staff, and students read. 

The contract between Dalhousie and its faculty association is one of the first university contracts in Nova Scotia to expire since the COVID-19 pandemic began.