Laurentian University believes its offer to the striking Laurentian University Faculty Association is fair, reasonable and sustainable. The association, however, maintains the offer does not acknowledge all the sacrifices made by its members during the university’s recent restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Admin says the ‘best possible deal’ has been presented amid fiscal imperatives University President Lynn Wells told CTV News that the administrative team is committed to the institution’s long-term fiscal health. This commitment directly shapes the offer presented to faculty. “That means that we need to have a balanced budget every year and that we need to make sure that we’re not putting Laurentian back into a position where it’s not financially sustainable for the future,” she said. “With all that in mind, we looked at our finances, we did all of the analysis and we figured out the best possible deal that we could put on the table and we’ve done that now.” “We are hopeful that the faculty association and its members will see that it is a really good deal,” Wells added. Faculty argues past sacrifices leave salaries ‘far from the sector norm’ LUFA President Fabrice Colin contends the offer fails to address the significant financial penalties absorbed by faculty during the CCAA process, which concluded in late 2022. “We suffered a cut of five per cent followed by two years of freeze, followed by three years at one per cent. We lost two years of seniority. We had 15 furlough days,” Colin said. “Now our salaries are far from the sector norm and as you also are aware our pension fund was decimated.” Pension talks, picket line incidents emerge as secondary issues Wells said that separate discussions regarding the pension plan are ongoing – affirming the strength of the restructured Laurentian University Pension Plan while acknowledging the faculty’s interest in exploring other options. “At the same time, we recognize that it is important to faculty association members that we look at the possibility of moving into the University Pension Plan and that’s a conversation we’re fully committed to having over the next few months,” Wells said. Meanwhile, on the picket lines, Colin reported high morale but also cited concerning incidents being investigated. “Several reports from members mentioning that private investigators and security personnel, but not from Laurentian, were asking for names, picket captain names, emails,” Colin said. “We saw an incident on Friday with students returning from the rally and were asked to fold their sign before being allowed to return on campus, which is indeed in our opinion an infringement on their freedom of speech.” Both sides confirm no new bargaining dates are currently scheduled, though each states a readiness to return to the table. The last LUFA strike in 2017 lasted nine days.
