NS university faculty call on 5 schools to drop lawsuit against teachers’ union

The Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers (ANSUT) has come out in support of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) after five of the province’s universities announced they are taking the union to court over work-to-rule directives.

READ MORE: 5 universities taking Nova Scotia Teachers Union to court over work-to-rule

In a news release Tuesday, ANSUT argued the universities – Acadia, Cape Breton, Mount Saint Vincent, St. Francis Xavier and Sainte-Anne – are violating the collective bargaining between the NSTU and the provincial government. The association asked the universities to drop their suit and for “the parties to try again to solve the issues at hand.”

Marc Lamoureux, president of ANSUT, said in the release the group doesn’t want to see “students, or student teachers, harmed” but said the universities lawsuit is “an intrusion by a third party in the collective bargaining process.”

“We need to remember that the NSTU has followed all the normal steps, including mediation, to obtain a fair and reasonable settlement,” he said.

“They now have a legal right to strike and take job action such as work-to-rule.”

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READ MORE: Nova Scotia teachers returning to work-to-rule Monday

On Wednesday, NSTU president Liette Doucet thanked the association for their support in a release.

“It means a lot to receive the support of university educators,” Doucet said.

The lawsuit was launched by the five universities on Monday when they said the return to work-to-rule was violating Section 31 of the Education Act, which reads “Section 31 requires teachers to admit student teachers to school classrooms, and, supervise and evaluate their required Teacher Practicum.” The in-class practicum are required by Nova Scotia universities for the completion of students’ teaching degrees.

Nearly 600 students from the universities are being affected, St. Francis Xavier spokesperson Cindy MacKenzie said in a release on Monday.

MacKenzie said a separate motion for an “emergency injunction to alleviate irreparable harm to students” was also filed to start student teachers’ practicums as soon as possible.

Doucet criticized the move by the universities and said the universities were “attacking their collective rights.”

“Teachers are taking a stand to improve working conditions for teachers, both today and in the future,” Doucet said. “Meanwhile these university presidents are attacking the labour rights of all Nova Scotians.”

Earlier this week, MacKenzie said the universities had reached out to the NSTU in December with regards to finding a solution to the directive, but said the union “did not respond favourably to this reasonable request.”

But Doucet told reporters Monday that the union has been in contact with the universities, but that when they asked what the schools were doing “by way of a contingency plan”, they had yet to receive a response.

In the release Wednesday, Doucet said the NSTU is now reviewing contracts it has with the universities, but is concerned with the impact the lawsuit could have on “the current long-standing mentorship programs the NSTU has helped to create, develop and fund for BEd faculties across the province.”

Lamoureux also questioned why the universities were only launching their suit against the NSTU and not the province, and said it’s “troublesome” as the union’s 9,300 members are expected to vote on the latest tentative agreement Feb. 8.