With faculty and librarians hitting the picket lines at Mount Allison University in Sackville, what does that mean for the students?
The president of the student union says they aren’t in a panic just yet.
Emelyana Titarenko says they were hopeful a tentative deal could be reached before the strike deadline.
Classes have been cancelled until further notice, but she says students are going to wait to see how this plays out, “The university has organized lots of different workshops to help students de-stress. If a strike goes on for much longer than anticipated, we will also be looking to see if we can provide any academic assistance to students, whether it be tutoring or study rooms or student sessions.”
She says they have been given reassurances that those who are in their graduating year will still graduate, “As it stands, there isn’t a huge fear, just because the university has made the reassurance that students will be able to graduate. There is still some anxiety regarding that, of course.”
Titarenko says they will be strongly advocating for tuition rebates for the time missed, “Based on the last strike, that was definitely not upheld and there was no tuition rebate that took place. We are taking a firm stance on this. Based on communication with the student affairs office, it seems they are also very much in favour to make sure students are compensated.”
The last time there was a strike was in 2014, and classes were cancelled for around three weeks.
Faculty and librarians went on strike as of 12:01 a.m. Monday.
The university presented an offer to the Mount Allison bargaining team on Saturday, with the help of a provincially-appointed mediator.
But the Mount Allison Faculty Association rejected the offer, saying their employer has not addressed concerns including workload, accommodation for faculty and librarians with disabilities, part-time job security, and part-time compensation.
