Lecturers and music instructors have voted to strike due to mounting frustration after five months of bargaining with the University of Victoria.
With an overwhelming majority — 90 per cent of the vote — the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4163 Component 3 members agreed to endorse job action at UVic. This strike vote by Component 3 is the first-ever in their 20-year history.
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The main issues instructors are frustrated with is low pay and precarious working conditions which they have said impact student experience at the university and the amount of support they receive.
According to CUPE 4163 president Greg Melnechuk, most of the measures they are asking for are at little to no cost to the university. “We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement at the bargaining table and avert any strike or job action in September,” he said in a statement, adding the proposals at issue involve basic job security measures that other post-secondary institutes already have in place.
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The CUPE 4163 Component 3 represents about 450 sessional lecturers and music performance instructors at UVic, who teach 30 per cent of all students at the university.
Both parties are expected back at the bargaining table on Aug. 8.
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