UPEI faculty union rejects conditional proposal to resume talks

The University of Prince Edward Island has asked its faculty association to come back to the negotiating table, as a strike triggered by the breakdown of contract talks looks set to enter a third week.

A faculty association spokesperson says it wrote the UPEI board of governors earlier this week asking for negotiations to resume Monday, with no preconditions attached to the talks. 

The board had told the campus community it was willing to book meeting rooms for this weekend, but the association said the administration set some conditions on the resumption of talks. 

Those conditions: The faculty association would have to email proposals by Friday at noon, and UPEI's chief negotiator would have to deem that they represented a "substantive movement" toward an agreement.

"We were unwilling to meet… unilateral decision-making and dictatorial terms like that. That's not a sign that they're willing to negotiate," said Margot Rejskind, executive director and chief negotiator for the faculty association.

"I will go anywhere anytime to talk to them about a deal. We said we would meet them on Saturday, that we would bring our proposals to the table and discuss them there, and so far they have refused to meet without those conditions."

In a statement on its website, UPEI said it was disappointed the faculty association had rejected the proposal to meet on the weekend. 

"Their failure to provide responses tells the university that the UPEI FA is not ready yet to be serious about a deal," the statement read in part. 

"UPEI has already spent more days in negotiations (including face-to-face meetings, conciliation, and mediation) than what was required to reach recent settlements at Saint Mary's University, Dalhousie University, and Cape Breton University combined, and close to 30 per cent more time in discussions than Memorial University prior to their settlement."

Rally at legislature

Picketing at the main entrance to the university continued Friday, the 12th day since the strike began. 

The UPEI Faculty Association also held a rally outside the P.E.I. legislature Friday afternoon, with about a dozen allies present from faculty unions across the country, urging all the Island's political parties to commit to not bringing in back-to-work legislation if elected to form a government on Monday.

Rejskind said that so far, she doesn't think there's "an end in sight" to the strike.

"Spirits are great," she said. "We all know that this is important. We all know that this is a cause that will affect our institution for years to come."

UPEI said it still prefers that outstanding issues go to an arbitrator, so that students can go back to class while negotiations continue. But the university said it's also willing to consider other options, as long as it receives a response that shows "we can make actual headway."

The faculty association said it's booked a room for discussions on Monday, but would agree to meet this weekend if the university were to remove its conditions.