Legal strike action is the right of unionized workers to withdraw their services with the aim of demonstrating collectively their concerns and resolve to achieve fair terms of employment. For LUFA members, this means ceasing all of the teaching, research, and governance tasks that make up their workload for the duration of the strike. 

The LUFA Executive remains hopeful that our negotiating team will reach a settlement at the table during mediation. However, there is a possibility that members will either be locked out or take legal strike action. In order to be prepared if there is a labour disruption, here are some practical matters that members should consider.  

A lockout in a faculty context is a work stoppage initiated by the university administration (the employer) to pressure the faculty union to agree to its terms during collective bargaining. The goal is to apply financial and operational pressure on the union and its members to accept the employer’s proposed terms for a new collective agreement. 

Other than under specific and special circumstances, you would not have access to your office and/or lab during a job action.  

• To ensure the protection of your materials while away from site, consider moving copies of crucial working documents, files, print, and other portable material off-campus.  
• Alert colleagues from other universities or agencies of the labour situation at Laurentian and inform them of alternative contact information.  
• Check that there are enough lab supplies to last for the duration of a job action, and, if necessary, order supplies now. You will not be able to order supplies during a strike or lockout.  
• If a labour disruption seems inevitable, consider leaving recorded messages on office and/or lab telephones that inform callers of an impending job action and provide them with alternative contact information.  
• Set up your email to automatically forward to a personal email address. 

If, during a job action, access to a lab or research facility is necessary to protect the integrity of lab-based research and scholarly activity, you would need to submit an access request to the LUFA Executive. In the event that urgent access to the campus is required during a legal strike, you would contact your picket captain, who would consult the LUFA executive.  

We are unsure how the University will manage this. 

LUFA will soon be putting out a more detailed circular focused on whether, and how, to discuss strikes and lockouts with your classes.  For now, you may want to:  

• Speak to your research assistants and graduate students about their roles and your expectations during a job action. We see no reason why they could not continue to work and be paid, but cannot anticipate what the Employer would do.  

• Please do not try to manage concerns by telling students that a strike or lockout is unlikely, will be brief, or will not impact them negatively. Refer them to the LUFA website for information, FAQs, and their own student association leadership to get information or become more involved. 

Students are strong members of our community and can greatly influence the job action process. If your students have questions or concerns, please be supportive of their ability to get involved and to help us arrive at a fair contract, and that they can go to the LUFA website for updates, invite them to connect to our social media channels to stay connected, and to communicate with their student representatives for more information.  

Yes, we have received support from the CAUT Defence Fund to support job action. LUFA will fully finance the first three days of strike pay, as these are not covered under the CAUT Defence Fund regulations. The balance is provided with support from CAUT. 

Full-time members are required to picket a minimum of 15 hours (5 3-hour shifts) per week and sessional members are required to picket a minimum of 7.5 hours (2 and a half shifts). Each picket captain will have picketers sign time sheets for each shift, and it is each member’s responsibility to ensure their shift is recorded. 

LUFA will issue cheques. 

It’s LUFA’s expectation that members would be paid for work done up to the strike deadline. 

Members on sabbatical are considered to be on strike and can withdraw research activities. 

LUFA will be seeking agreement from the Employer that LUFA be entitled to pay directly for member fringe benefits during any lockout or strike. Therefore, there is some possibility that LU health and prescription benefits would be suspended (however, this has never happened during past strikes on campus, as our insurance company normally needs lead time to implement such a measure). To help ensure minimal disruption in essential healthcare, make arrangements now for yourself and for members of your family who receive coverage under your policy.   

• Refill prescription medicines.  

• Reschedule appointments for dental appointments or paramedical services.  

• Get new prescriptions for vision care.  

Our bargaining team is only as powerful as our collective voice. Every LUFA member is essential to this process. Keep an eye out for members’ updates with information on upcoming events. 

Click here to download Zoom backgrounds and images to add to your email signature in order to show our solidarity in all of our tasks leading up to job action, signalling our strength to the Laurentian University community. 

The LUFA Executive will be sending regular updates to members’ non-Laurentian/personal email addresses and updating our website regularly. Make sure to follow LUFA on Instagram too @lufappul. 

Further questions can first be directed to your picket captains, and then  [email protected]   

No. Tri-Council grants and funding awarded to researchers, students and fellows for existing research projects are maintained during a strike or lockout. CAUT has received the following communication from Benjamin Cyr, the Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Finance DG for both the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

In the event of a strike or lockout: 

• The agencies would maintain grant and award funding to researchers, students and fellows for existing research projects. Funds for grants, fellowships, and scholarships must continue to be used for the eligible expenses for which the funds were awarded. During this time, in keeping with the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration (TAGFA), the institution must ensure that the research project and/or the grantee’s signing authority is not compromised. As such, a grantee may delegate his/her signing authority to one or more person of his/her choice at the organization for the purpose of approving research expenditures directly related to the funded research.
• As indicated in the “Authorization of grant expenditures” section of the TAGFA: “The grant recipient holds the authority to use the grant funds.  Only the grant recipient can delegate authority to use the grant funds. The delegate should possess the skills and knowledge necessary to exercise the role effectively. Approval of the delegated authority must be formally documented using an appropriate delegation instrument and in accordance with the administering institution’s relevant policies and requirements.”  Therefore, unless pre-authorized, only the grantee or authorized delegate should have access to the funds. 

No, not collectively. A strike protocol does not need to include this option. However, individual members who are grant holders may choose to delegate signing authority during a strike to a delegate who possesses “the skills and knowledge necessary to exercise the role effectively”.

Yes, they can. Furthermore, Tri-Council application deadlines cannot be extended to accommodate strikes and lockouts.

No. The Tri-Council Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions requires institutions to “confirm the eligibility of each Grant or Award applicant at the time of application” and to “provide adequate, equitable financial and administrative support to its Recipients to ensure sound management of funds”.

However, there is no guarantee the employer will do what is required on its end to process new grant applications, unless this is negotiated into the strike protocol. Associations should advise members to submit applications early when possible. Where feasible, associations may wish to consider grant submission dates when setting a strike deadline.

If internal grants are at the employer’s discretion, the association should advise members to apply early, submit expenses early and retain records of their submissions. Expense refusals by the employer can be addressed after the fact in a Back to Work Protocol and/or by a grievance.