Strike votes can reduce the possibility of job action by demonstrating to the employer that a strong, united membership supports the negotiating objectives of their bargaining team. In many cases, a strike vote will be followed by the parties returning to the bargaining table and working hard to reach a deal. However, a strike vote also authorizes the TRUFA Executive to initiate job action should negotiations stall.

What happens next will depend on TRU’s response to the strike vote. TRUFA is hopeful the employer will return to the bargaining table immediately, and begin real negotiations, working hard to reach a deal, in which case there should be no need for job action.

Feel free to share anything you read here or in other updates from TRUFA. TRUFA also has a link to a Student FAQ page. Please remind your students to check that page whenever they need an update.

Make sure you are subscribed to the trufa-l email list. Everything you need to know will be posted there and/or on the web at trufa.ca. Be sure you have your login information for TRUFA.CA.

If you need to subscribe to trufa-l or you’ve forgotten your initial login data for trufa.ca, contact Marian Griffin admin@trufa.ca.

TRUFA also needs to have a non-TRU e-mail address for you in case the employer’s e-mail server is not accessible due to job action. Please go to the following link and provide us with an alternate e-mail address, which we will use only for job action communication. Note: this link requires you to log-in to the TRUFA.CA site.

If you have a specific unanswered question regarding job action send it to: trufalabouraction@trufa.ca.

Avoid relying on TRU’s bargaining and job action updates. They can contain a lot of misinformation, seemingly designed to incite fear among staff and students.

Deans and other administrators will be receiving their bargaining and job action information from the TRU Administration. You should be careful accepting that information at face value. Please also note that it is a violation of the BC Labour Code for any members of the TRU Administration to discuss bargaining issues with our members. Bargaining is required to take place only at the bargaining table.

Faculty should also exercise caution in collaborating with their Deans’ Offices on any preparations for job action. At this point there has been no announcement of job action.

Before any kind of job action can be taken, TRUFA is required to give the employer 72 hours advance notification. Once the initial notice has been given, there is no further obligation to notify anyone of the specific job action that might be taken on any given day. All faculty and students should monitor trufa.ca on a daily basis to be informed as to precisely what to expect.

A strike is the legal term for any form of job action. Job action consists of any collective action taken by a union that highlights faculty work, disrupts the employer's administrative operations in any way, or involves a partial or complete withdrawal of labour. Job action aims to pressure the employer to negotiate a fair and equitable collective agreement. Job action occurs only if negotiations break down.

For now, everyone should proceed with business as usual. Continue doing everything you would normally do in your courses and programs. This includes service areas such as the Assessment Centre and Co-op and Career Education. On the expectation that the employer will engage in negotiations very soon, we cannot assume there will be job action, and we cannot know what form that might take.

Most importantly, we ask that everyone remain calm. We are hopeful that the employer will respond to our strike vote in a productive manner.