Media Release, January 13

TRU Faculty Association to initiate job action Thursday morning; no impact on classes, students

The TRU Faculty Association will undertake job action beginning at 8 am on Thursday, January 14th when the 72 hour strike notice will expire and put TRU faculty into a legal strike position.

The union will announce what form the action will take tomorrow morning, but Tom Friedman, TRUFA President, said “our job action will not impact students; students should be prepared to attend their classes and continue with their educational activities on campus both Thursday and Friday.”

Friedman added, “our members are committed to minimizing the impact on their students, but they want to push TRU administration to address their key issues, and negotiate toward a mutually beneficial settlement.”  As a result, the job action will not affect students, but will instead target administrative operations of the university.

TRUFA has consistently stated that it is committed to mediation, but recognizes that there is a significant gap between the current negotiating positions of the parties.  “The TRUFA bargaining team will be giving its best effort to bridge that gap with the assistance of the mediator,” explained Friedman.

The current collective agreement for TRU faculty members expired in March 2014, and the parties have been in negotiations since February 2015.

The TRU Faculty Association represents 650 instructors, researchers, librarians, counsellors, educational coordinators and learning specialists in Kamloops and Williams Lake.