UPEI classes to resume Monday after deal ends 4-week strike

A tentative agreement reached early Friday has now been ratified, ending a labour dispute at the University of Prince Edward Island on the 26th day of a strike by the union representing faculty members.

UPEI Faculty Association president Michael Arfken said 98 per cent of members voted in favour of the agreement.

"That's a strong vote in support of the agreement and support of the union," Arfken said. "We're very pleased, and our members are excited to be going back to campus, and going back to campus with some of the supports they need to preserve the educational quality of our institution."

Among the highlights in the deal, Arfken cited:

• UPEI committing to hire 20 additional full-time faculty members.
• More research support for faculty.
• More supports for sessional staff and the adjustment of clinical nursing instructor ratios.
• An annual three-per-cent wage increase for union members over four years.

"Those are some pretty meaningful changes," Arfken said, adding that the wage increase is a "significant improvement" over what was originally offered.

"We recognize it's a compromise, but we're comfortable with where it landed for the time being."

Classes resume Monday

With the agreement ratified, the strike will now end and faculty will return to work.

Classes are set to resume Monday, following an emergency meeting of the university's senate Friday afternoon to finalize a return-to-class plan.

Here's some of the major details of the university's plan:

• The exam period is cancelled, which UPEI said will allow for instruction and assessments to be extended while keeping the semester's end date the same.
• The last day of instruction will be April 28. For the Atlantic Veterinary College, it will be May 5.
• All instruction or assessments happening after April 28 will be virtual. For the classes of 2023 and 2024, it's after April 15.
• The deadline to discontinue courses without academic penalties has been extended to April 18.
• Students will have the option to appeal for their grades to be shifted to pass/fail after their final numerical grades are determined.
• Convocations will happen as scheduled.
• Instructors agree to "make every reasonable effort" to accommodate the needs of individual students related to issues arisen from the strike.

A UPEI Student Union survey sent out to full-time students found the vast majority of students preferred either a refund (53.9 per cent), or for credits to be awarded as normal or on a pass/fail basis (42.8 per cent).

Only 3.2 per cent of 2,273 respondents wanted an extended semester.

Premier meets with UPEI, faculty association

Premier Dennis King said he met with UPEI officials and faculty association representatives Thursday, and said he learned a settlement was reached shortly after midnight Friday.

"I commend representatives of both sides for putting the interests of students first and working hard to reach an agreement that works for both sides," King said in a news release. 

"I want to thank both parties for hearing me out yesterday so that our students can get back to the classroom on Monday and finish their semester."

I think if the board of governors had been willing to work with us from Day 1, much if not all of this could have been avoided.- Michael Arfken, UPEI Faculty Association president

Faculty association members have been on the picket line for nearly four weeks, since March 20. The strike put a stop to university classes and left students wondering when — or whether — the semester might resume.

The UPEIFA's last collective agreement had been set to expire on July 1, 2020, but the parties signed a two-year extension that ended last June.

"I will say, it shouldn't have been necessary to go on strike for four weeks to achieve this agreement," Arfken said. "I think if the board of governors had been willing to work with us from Day 1, much if not all of this could have been avoided."

The two sides had been in negotiations on and off since April 2022.

The primary sticking points at the bargaining table were workloads, improved health and safety, higher pay, and the hiring of more full-time faculty members to cope with a growing student body.