Dalhousie University teaching assistants, part-time instructors go on strike

The union representing a number of part-time instructors, teaching assistants, markers and demonstrators at Dalhousie University says the main driver of the strike is wages.

Part-time instructors, teaching assistants, markers and demonstrators represented by CUPE at Dalhousie University went on strike Wednesday, saying the main issue driving the labour action is wages.

Members of CUPE 3912, which represents more than 3,000 “precarious academic workers” at Dalhousie University, Mount Saint Vincent University, and Saint Mary’s University, began setting up picket lines on Studley campus Wednesday morning.

The strike means that lectures, tutorials and labs held by union members will be cancelled, and assignments and exams will not be marked.

CUPE says part-time instructors and teaching assistants at Dalhousie are paid “substantially less than other comparable Canadian research universities.”

In a release, the union said the gap was “already evident” when members received their last raise in 2019 — but it has “worsened considerably” since then.

“Despite soaring inflation, we have not received even a basic cost of living raise for over three years,” said Gabor Lukacs, communications officer for CUPE 3912.

“The cost of living in Nova Scotia is high and getting higher, but wages have not kept up. We have members who are resorting to food banks while working and studying full-time.”