University of Ottawa part-time teaching professors go on strike, suspending many courses

About 2,500 part-time teaching professors at the University of Ottawa went on strike at midnight on Nov. 7 and began picketing Monday, after five months of failed negotiations.

The list of suspended courses is posted on Brightspace and changes daily, so students should check it before their next class. The Association of Teaching Professors of the University of Ottawa (ATPUO) says its members teach more than half of all courses, which means classes, grading, academic support and practicum supervision are suspended for many students. Labs and discussion groups run by teaching assistants are unaffected, non-ATPUO professors are teaching as usual, and clinical placements in the BSc Nursing program are suspended. Co-op, internship, practicum and work-study programs continue.

The union says the issues in dispute include class sizes, job security, fair compensation, working conditions and recognition of the essential role teaching professors play. Its president and chief negotiator, Nelson Arturo Ovalle Diaz, said the university "must return to the bargaining table with serious proposals that recognize the value of teaching professors' work." Luc Angers, the union's vice-president of membership engagement, said the union is "ready to negotiate, but we will not accept an agreement that jeopardizes the future of teaching at the University of Ottawa." The union says all members lost access to university systems and platforms at the start of the strike.

The university says it is "disappointed" the talks did not produce an agreement and remains committed to bargaining in good faith. It says contingency plans are in place, students will not be penalized for missed classes, and no changes to the academic calendar are planned. It also says there is no impact on provincial financial aid. It calls the part-time professors "valued members of our community."

This is a separate union from the APUO, which represents full-time professors, librarians and language teachers. The last time a teaching-staff strike was in the air, in September, uOttawa teaching professors voted to authorize one, the mandate that led to this walkout.