Unionized faculty, staff vote unanimously in favour of striking at NOSM

NOSM announces new members of leadership NOSM University has announced Cindy Blackstock will be its new chancellor.

Unionized faculty and professional staff at NOSM University (NOSM U) have voted 100 per cent in favour of a strike mandate in the midst of continuing negotiations with administration, said the union in a news release.

The union is OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) Local 677 representing NOSM U Faculty and Staff Association (NUFSA).

NOSM University runs two campuses in northern Ontario; one on Lakehead University grounds in Thunder Bay and the other on the grounds of Laurentian University (LU) in Greater Sudbury.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) officially became Canada's first independent medical university on April 1, 2022 following LU’s insolvency crisis.

NUFSA said it is proposing “fair and equitable” improvements to workload and working conditions to ensure the continued success of teaching, learning and research at the university. The union added these changes are in line with other universities across the province.

"Unfortunately, the university administration is seeking to remove important rights for NUFSA members in the areas of job security and resources for teaching and research, amongst others," said NUFSA.

"The rights the administration is attempting to remove would create working conditions far below standard in medical schools in Southern Ontario and, in turn, negatively impact the learning conditions of Northern Ontario medical students," the release continued.

Darrel Manitowabi, the President of the NOSM U Faculty and Professional Staff Union said members are not pleased with the situation at the university.

“Our members are disappointed that the university administration is attempting to seriously degrade the quality of education at NOSM U by attacking faculty and professional staff who teach our students, develop innovative northern-centric programming, and support students on their journeys to becoming physicians serving our communities,” he said.

Manitowabi said the unanimous strike mandate is a clear indication that medical education faculty and staff are “willing to take the measures necessary” to protect both learning and teaching conditions at NOSM U.

“NUFSA is calling on the administration to meaningfully engage with the union at the bargaining table, to ensure that workload issues, compensation and benefits, and working conditions for faculty and professional staff are addressed," read the release.

OPSEU Local 677 president Nicole Bessette said NOSM workers should be treated the same as their counterparts at southern Ontario medical school.

“We are a school of medicine, like our colleagues in the south of the province, and our faculty and staff deserve to be treated equitably,” she said.

“Our students deserve the best education and community members deserve the best doctors trained to meet northern health care challenges.”

Bessette said The NOSM U administration must work with the union “to create the best medical school in and for the north,” starting with a fair collective agreement.