Cul-de-sac on campus. After nearly four weeks of walkout, the impasse remains intact at Laval University, where employers and unions give no sign of wanting to dismantle the barricades.
Latest reversal to date: the management of the establishment of higher education accuses the union of professors of Laval University (SPUL) of having rejected bluntly, in just four hours, the hypothesis of settlement submitted Wednesday by the conciliator requested by Université Laval.
“Everything suggests that the SPUL executive has not thought about it and does not want to do its part to find solutions. This saddens us greatly, wrote the executive vice-rector, André Darveau, in a press release released Thursday morning. We would hope that the SPUL takes at least the time to analyze the hypothesis put forward by the conciliator. »
The president of the SPUL, Louis-Philippe Lampron, denounces “the petty strategy” aimed at taxing union members with intransigence.
“The conciliator requested by the University submitted a settlement hypothesis, we presented a counter-proposal and since then it has been radio silence. We thought we would spend the night negotiating to find a way through, but no: I got ghost, notes the president of the SPUL, and I wake up, Thursday morning, learning that the employers’ party accuses us of having rejected everything en bloc! »
Later in the day, Thursday, Laval University clarified the position of the conciliator. His hypothesis did not open the way to a possible negotiation: on the contrary, it cut short all new discussions.
“The conciliator has given the following directive to the parties, indicated by email the assistant director of public relations, Andrée-Anne Stewart. The parties must consider this settlement hypothesis as an inseparable whole. […] The parties must therefore accept or reject it as a whole. If one of the parties refuses it, it is considered as never having existed. »
Each side emphasizes having made important concessions since the start of the strike. Three issues remain at the heart of the dispute: a salary catch-up deemed “necessary” by the union, the hiring of 100 new professors to lighten the increasingly heavy work load of the teaching staff and the protection of freedom of education, at a time when the University is trying, in the words of the union party, to “perpetuate the concessions made during the pandemic to get through the crisis”.
“Laval University has risen to 6e rank on the list of the best research universities in Canada, explains Louis-Philippe Lampron. At the same time, she is not even at the bottom of the pack in terms of salary: she simply does not appear on the ranking! »
However, insists the union, Laval University is making a large surplus. “According to the financial statements, that represents $257 million between 2018 and 2022. What did the University do with these surpluses? Does management favor concrete to the detriment of teachers? »
During a press briefing held at the start of the indefinite general strike on March 13, André Darveau explained that the sums advanced by the union were based on an erroneous calculation. “They looked, at the end of the year, at the surpluses that were identified in the financial statements. They added up as if that money had accumulated over the years. It is completely false: we did not accumulate this money: we spent it”, had indicated the executive vice-rector.
While the rag burns between the two parties, the student population sees the session disrupted, even compromised as the conflict continues.
“It’s sad that it’s the students who are paying for this conflict,” laments Vickie Bourque, outgoing president of CADEUL, a confederation that claims more than 34,000 undergraduate members. A strike is there to disturb. On the other hand, it is the students who are currently bothered. We must remember that if we are at university, it is to prepare for our future. »
CADEUL prefers to remain neutral in the conflict, unlike AeLIES, the association which represents the second and third cycle student community. At a special meeting held last week, a majority of the 205 members present voted to support the strike and the demands of the teaching staff.
The latter launched, by a strong majority, an indefinite general strike on March 13th. “We cannot accept the unacceptable, and that, the University knows it, concludes Louis-Philippe Lampron. We submitted our specifications in February 2022 to give us time to discuss and avoid the situation we are currently experiencing. The fire is burning, you have to be able to find a solution. We are now waiting for the rector to get involved in the negotiations to settle this conflict. »