uOttawa teaching professors vote 'overwhelmingly' for strike mandate

A 2024 file photo of signage on the uOttawa campus. Photo by Spencer Colby /Postmedia

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More than 860 members of the University of Ottawa’s teaching professors’ association have cast ballots in favour of a strike.

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After a five-day electronic voting period, the Association of Teaching Professors of the University of Ottawa (ATPUO) announced Friday that members had voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of job action, including a strike if necessary, across its three bargaining units.

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The union said 88.2 per cent of members in the main unit, 73.1 per cent in the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) Unit and all members in the Toronto-Windsor Unit voted in favour of a strike mandate.

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In a media release, the union’s chief negotiator, Nelson Arturo Ovalle Diaz, said the results demonstrated an “unprecedented mobilization” among members.

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“Our members are sending a clear message to the administration that they no longer accept the status quo and that current conditions have become intolerable,” Ovalle Diaz wrote.

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The union stressed that a strike mandate did not mean classes at uOttawa would be immediately disrupted, but rather was a “strategic tool” intended to pressure university administration to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a new agreement.

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ATPUO’s collective agreement with the university expired on Aug. 31, 2025, with the union saying negotiations had since focused on improving working conditions.

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The union also raised concerns about a university proposal to create an unlimited number of intensive teaching positions and incorporate them into the bargaining unit representing regular professors.

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“This would increase precarity and threaten the quality of education,” said Luc Angers, a member of the bargaining committee.

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The union said it remained confident that an agreement could be reached without a labour dispute and that student success remained a priority.

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“The association therefore calls on the administration to resume negotiations immediately in a spirit of openness, collaboration, and good faith, with the goal of reaching an agreement that reflects the needs of our university community,” the ATPUO statement said.

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The union represents more than 2,500 contract and part-time professors who teach at uOttawa.

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