TANNARA YELLAND
CUP Prairies & Northern Bureau Chief

Members of the University of Winnipeg’s faculty association voted down a four-year collective agreement with the university on Feb. 16.

Over 400 employees at the University of Winnipeg, most of them professors and librarians, have been without a collective agreement with their employer for almost a year. Their last contract ran out in March 2010.

Talks between the faculty association and the administration began in October, and have been “very active” since then, said Dan Hurley, U of W associate vice-president of external affairs.

Neither side would say much about the substance of their negotiations, as they have agreed “not to negotiate in the media,” Hurley said. He declined to comment on what was causing the negotiations to continue for so long.

The agreement the association voted down last week would have involved a two-year wage freeze. After the first two years, wages would have gone up 3.2 per cent and 3.3 per cent in the two following years.

Hurley said the two sides intend “to get back to the table soon” and continue negotiations. The faculty association has not yet voted on strike action.

Manitoba’s capital city was home to the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, a historic event that garnered international attention and became a flashpoint for frustrated workers across the nation.

Almost the entire working population of Winnipeg walked off the job between May 15 and June 26, and the strike culminated in a clash between police and citizens that is now known as “Bloody Saturday.” Two strikers died and many more were injured as Royal Northwest Mounted Police charged the thousands-strong crowd firing guns and beating strikers.

Winnipeg schools have seen significant labour turmoil in recent weeks, too. The University of Manitoba narrowly avoided a strike in the second-last week of February. Late in the night on Feb. 15, 269 of the 533 U of M employees that are part of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 3007 cast ballots and approved a contract by 76 per cent, mere hours before their walkout was scheduled to begin.

In contrast to the vote on the contract, 86 per cent of the membership voted in favour of striking.

The vote meant that the U of M did not see an interruption in food and custodial services. Workers voted in favour of the contract in order to avoid a strike, but are largely unhappy with it. They will not see a pay raise until the third year of their contract, when they will receive a 2.9 per cent raise.