Press Release – Update on the Negotiations at Université Sainte-Anne
Church Point, March 26, 2022
Negotiations between the Université Sainte-Anne faculty union (APPBUSA) and the university administration resumed just over a week ago.
The two sides have reached agreement on roughly half of the issues on the table, and they continue to work towards a settlement that will be fair to faculty and good for the university. Although pleased, union negotiators report that they are concerned about the slow pace of progress. The faculty wish to intensify efforts to reach agreement quickly, and they question a perceived lack of urgency on the part of the administration.
The APPBUSA negotiating team is pushing to accelerate the pace in order to save the Winter Term. They specify, however, that this does not mean losing sight of the intention to negotiate a better collective agreement, one to support the college professors, university professors and librarians whose work generates the rich learning environment that is Université Sainte-Anne at its best. The faculty union is demanding recognition, through a fair employment contract, for the culture of excellence in teaching and research that has developed in recent years and to which the university refers in its strategic plan. APPBUSA is aware of the challenges represented by an in-depth revision of the collective agreement, but this revision is necessary to ensure a working environment that meets today’s standards in terms of fairness, equality and collegiality, values that are essential to the proper functioning of an institution like ours.
Although the APPBUSA negotiation team cannot predict a date for the conclusion of an agreement, APPBUSA members can affirm their commitment to the current and unprecedented mobilization of faculty in support of their right to a fair collective agreement. APPBUSA sincerely hopes that everyone will understand the urgency of effective negotiation for the good of the students and, by extension, for the good of the university as a whole.