Dear Fellow UWOSA Member,
The UWOSA office has received several questions regarding the Faculty Association (UWOFA) in the event that there is a strike or a lock out.
UWOFA has been negotiating with the Employer since June 2018. Most recently, their membership voted 94% in favor of giving their negotiations team a strike mandate. UWOFA will be in a legal strike position the week of November 5th (on November 9th at 12:01 a.m.).
UWOSA Support:
Western University is a unionized environment and as such, the union groups on campus rely on one another, as each group enters into negotiations with the University’s Administration.
What this means for UWOSA Members:
In our Collective Agreement, Article 5: Strike or Lockout, specifically Article 5.05 states, “Where individuals in a labor dispute, other than those in the bargaining unit, engage in a strike and maintain picket lines, and where employees of the bargaining unit could suffer personal harm, the employer will endeavour to safeguard such employees.”
This means that UWOSA members are required to report to work, even if this means crossing a picket line. It will be the University’s responsibility to ensure that employees are safe when doing so.
Please be mindful that as collective agreements are living documents with short durations, our course of action is to stand together with UWOFA.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, please contact me or one of our Executive Officers at info@uwosa.ca.
In Solidarity,
Meg Perinpanayagam
UWOSA President
