Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has issued a No Board Report as efforts continue to try and reach an agreement to renew the collective agreement between the university and PSAC 901, which represents a bargaining unit of Postdoctoral Fellows (PSAC Unit 2) employed by the university.
The No Board Report, issued on Saturday, October 26, means that members of the PSAC Unit 2 bargaining unit may legally strike, and the university may legally lock-out the employees in that bargaining unit, at 12:01 am on Tuesday, November 12. This does not mean a work stoppage will necessarily occur on or after that date.
The parties continue to have a duty to bargain in good faith and the University is committed to continuing to work with the union in the interest of reaching an agreement.
The university has a contingency plan in place to mitigate risks posed to academic operations and details will be provided, if necessary, of potential disruptions.
The University, and PSAC Local 901, have been meeting since October 2023 in efforts to renew the Unit 2 collective agreement. The agreement expired on June 30, 2023.
In August, Queen’s asked the Ministry of Labour to appoint a conciliator to assist the parties in reaching an agreement. The parties’ representatives met with a conciliator present on two dates in October that were scheduled for conciliation. The discussion ended at midnight on the second date without an agreement being reached. The university then requested the No Board Report on October 21, 2024. It is a normal feature of the labour relations process in the Province of Ontario.
Once a tentative agreement is reached, the details will remain confidential until it is ratified successfully by both parties.