(Sudbury – August 31, 2018)

The Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA), representing all full-time and part-time faculty at the University of Sudbury, has filed for conciliation in an effort to reach an agreement with the university college that ensures faculty are no longer paid substantially less than their colleagues at Laurentian. After over fourteen days of talks, progress has been made in many areas, but the need for fair pay and job security for contract faculty are key issues that the administration refuses to meaningfully address.

“The discrepancy in pay is quite concerning,” said Fabrice Colin, President of LUFA. “Individual faculty at the University of Sudbury are paid up to 30% less than their colleagues at the same rank and with the same number of years of experience, despite doing exactly the same teaching, research, and service work of which the University of Sudbury and Laurentian University are so proud and upon which students depend.”

In addition to the lack of fair pay, the University of Sudbury has increasingly relied on the expertise of part-time faculty to maintain the integrity of programs in Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Folklore, and Études journalistiques.

“Part-time faculty at the University of Sudbury still face substantial challenges planning ahead as they face uncertainty over which classes, if any, they will be teaching from term to term,” said Réal Fillion, Chief Negotiator for the faculty association. “That’s why improving the working conditions and job security for part-time faculty is a priority for us.”

LUFA was hoping to engage with the conciliator and have a deal in place before classes start, but the university declared itself unavailable, even on weekends, until September 14. Given the uncertainty created for returning students, LUFA is disappointed that the University of Sudbury did not make it a priority to reach an agreement.

Faculty at the University of Sudbury are members of LUFA, which represents over 400 full-time faculty as well as over 300 part-time faculty at Laurentian University, the University of Sudbury, Huntington University and Thorneloe University.