NSCAD's Port Campus, on the Halifax waterfront. (Photo courtesy of Verne Equinox/Wikimedia Commons)

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FREDERICTON (CUP) — NSCAD University and the Faculty Union of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design have avoided a strike in the eleventh hour after five months at the bargaining table.

The ratification of the tentative agreement last week by FUNSCAD Units I and II, representing faculty and technicians, came in a timely manner as the Windsor Report is scheduled to be released in the coming days. The report, conducted by former deputy minister Howard Windsor, will recommend the optimal funding arrangement for the future of the university.

The school is one of six Nova Scotian universities being examined because of financial difficulties. NSCAD is facing a $2.4-million deficit for the 2011–12 year.

“It’s great to have stability restored to the groups,” said John Mabley, NSCAD's vice-president, university relations.

Mabley said striking a deal offered some comfort to the provincial funders, despite pleas from the union to roll over the existing contract.

“To really maximize the stability of the institution, it was important to seek to bargain and get some agreements that would permit the government to know better what the university’s budgeting needs are likely to be over the coming three-year period of time,” he said.

The 18-month contract, retroactively beginning July 1, will expire Dec. 31, 2012, and both sides are expecting the negotiations to restart next fall.

“It feels good to have this round finished,” said Alvin Comiter, NSCAD professor and union president of the two FUNSCAD bargaining units, who have been in a position to strike since Nov. 3.

Unit III, comprised of support staff, reached a tentative agreement with the administration last week. Although no details have been released, the university and the union, which is based in the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU), are confident it will be ratified as well.

Comiter said the instructors had to make a number of concessions in order to broker a deal, including the abandonment of a salary increase.

“In order to get the short contract, we took a zero per cent increase,” he said. “By the time the contracts expire, just due to the cost of living our members would have lost something like six per cent of their income.”

The university also gained power to not replace retiring faculty members for the life of the contract.

“If someone leaves this year, [the university] does not have to put out a vacancy notice, and I think their goal was to cut down on the number of faculty and technicians,” said Comiter.

He added that no instructor is expected to retire before the new deal expires and it will be a priority next fall.

FUNSCAD was able to get better job security for part-time faculty, however. Part-time instructors will receive enhanced health benefits, and the number of courses they’re able to teach was increased to ensure their earning capability is raised.

“Most of our faculty can only teach at NSCAD,” said Comiter. “So, they can’t put together a larger teaching load by working at a few universities at the same time.”

Both parties said it’s difficult to narrow down their demands for next fall before seeing the Windsor Report, which is their main focus at the moment.

“The paramount need for the present is to create some stability to permit rational future planning to occur,” said Mabley. “I’m sure that in a year’s time, everybody will hopefully be seeking to maintain the kind of amicable agreement that I think has been reached on this round.”

Students and alumni, along with faculty and administration, have rallied around the university in an appeal to the provincial government to save NSCAD. A circulated petition has already collected over 6,300 signatures from people supporting the Halifax-based school.

“We are optimistic,” said Mabley. “Because of the strength of conviction that so many have expressed for NSCAD, it’s something that is so encouraging and heart-warming for us. Settling those union agreements is a big piece of getting ready to go forward.”

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