About Association of Dalhousie University Research Employees
On this page you can read about our history and some examples of the work that our members do. You can also find copies of our By-Laws and policies.
History of PSAC Local 86001 / A-DURESS
2025: On July 28th, more than three years since serving Notice to Bargain following the successful certification of the Grant-Paid Employee bargaining unit, and more than two years since commencing negotiations with Dalhousie University, the first Collective Agreement came into effect for Grant-Paid Employees.
2024: On November 6th, an Election and AGM was held where our first Local By-Laws and Honouraria Policy were introduced. These were approved following an online voting period and current versions can be found at the bottom of this page.
2024: On March 26th, the new Collective Agreement (2022-2025) came into effect, having been ratified unanimously by postdocs as well as the Dalhousie University Board of Governor's. Key improvements for this Collective Agreement include: (1) increases to the minimum salary of 45k in 2024 and 50k in 2025; (2) annual wage adjustments for postdocs paid above the minimum salary; (3) improved mental health benefits; (4) additional vacation time for postdocs that have been at Dal for more than 2 years; (5) improvements to job security; and (6) improvements to parental leave.
2024: On February 9th, a tentative agreement was reached between Dalhousie University administration and postdocs. Ratification votes were held for postdocs on February 20th-22nd.
2024: The Dalhousie University administration asked to return to the bargaining table after hearing of the strike mandate that postdocs had. A meeting was held on January 26th between the postdoc bargaining team (with all postdocs invited to attend) and the Dalhousie University administration.
2023: During November and December 2023 postdocs held strike votes, where they voted on whether or not to accept the "final offer" from the Dalhousie administration. Postdocs voted to give their bargaining team a strong strike mandate on December 13th.
2023: On October 25th our "cooling off" period ended and we attended a final (at the time) conciliation meeting with the Nova Scotia Labour Board and Dal admin.
2023: On September 21st and 22nd we attended conciliation meetings with the Nova Scotia Labour Board and Dal admin. We reached impasse.
2023: On September 23rd we delivered a photo petition to the office of Dal President, Kim Brooks. This was signed by 75% of active postdocs and demonstrated that postdocs are united in their demand to be treated fairly in bargaining. We called on the President to issue a mandate to the admin bargaining team to come to a fair agreement.
2023: On March 6th and 7th we attended conciliation meetings with the Nova Scotia Labour Board and Dal admin
2023: On 28th February we delivered a petition to the acting Dal Provost, Kim Brooks, that was signed by 73% of postdocs and showed that we support what is being asked for in negotiations
2023: On January 17th and 18th the second round of bargaining negotiations were held between the Dal admin and the postdoc bargaining team
2022: On November 8th and 9th the first bargaining negotiations for the new collective agreement were held between the Dal admin and the postdoc bargaining team
2022: On October 12th, we elected a Local Executive: Kaitlynne Lowe (President GPE), Robyn Wright (President Postdoc), Matthew Stoyek (VP GPE), Eric Pringle (VP Postdoc), Aditya Nar (Treasurer Postdoc), Derek Rowter (Chief Shop Steward GPE), Mukesh Kumar (Secretary)
2022: On June 13-14th the first bargaining team meetings were held to discuss changes to be made to the collective agreement
2022: Due to changes in circumstances, Yu-Ting had to step down, but Aditya Nar has now replaced Yu-Ting as the third bargaining team member
2022: We developed a bargaining priorities survey and started an outreach campaign with the goal of getting a majority of postdocs to fill it out. The bargaining survey campaign was our first structure test since winning our union
2022: Our bargaining team/committee and interested members attended union training to learn big, open bargaining “Turning the Tables: Participation and Power in Negotiation”
2021: At a Union meeting on December 13th 2021, Matthew Stoyek, Robyn Wright and Yu-Ting Chen were elected as bargaining committee members to negotiate the new Collective Agreement
2021: On November 1st, PSAC issued Dalhousie University notice to bargain to indicate that postdocs wish to negotiate a new Collective Agreement
2020: On April 16th 2020, then-President of Local 86001 William Van Woensel signed the first Dalhousie Postdoctoral Fellows-PSAC Service Agreement (witnessed by Olga Carnicer)
2019: On September 25th 2019, postdocs voted in favour of a new Collective Agreement that became effective January 1st 2019 to December 31st 2021. At the same meeting, a motion was carried unanimously to assist in unionizing our Grant-Paid Employee colleagues and to include them in Local 86001 as a separate bargaining unit
2016-2019: William Van Woensel was elected local president
2016: Dal postdocs and PSAC negotiated the first collective agreement, in which we won an increased minimum salary from 20k per year to 36k per year, a 100% top up to parental leave, 15 vacation days and the Health Benefit plan with $400 Health Spending Account
2014: Dal postdocs vote to form a union – Local 86001
Read more about the important research that our members do!
PSAC Local 86001 aggregated salary information
We have provided figures here from the quarterly reports sent to us by Dalhousie. These are calculated to equate to 1xFTE for each salary. These will be added for Grant-Paid Employees when that information is made available to us. See bottom of the page for all historical figures. Current figures are shown here.
For context, the living wage in Halifax over the last few years:
2019: $19.78/hr ($41,142 annually)
2020: $21.80/hr ($45,344 annually)
2021: $22.40/hr ($46,952 annually)
2022: $23.50/hr ($48,880 annually)
2023: $26.50/hr ($55,120 annually)
2024: $28.30/hr ($58,864 annually)
2025: $29.40/hr ($61,152 annually)
Hello
Postdoc salary information
October 2025
Number of postdocs: 133
Overall mean salary: $60,176 (range $30,000-123,900)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=72): $58,341
1 year (n=40): $60,129
2 years (n=29): $60,193
3 years (n=13): $66,728
4+ years (n=7): $67,092
PSAC Local 86001 Honouraria Policy
Ratified in a vote held during the 2024 AGM and Election
Download PDFPostdoc salary information full breakdown
April 2023
November 2023
April 2023
Number of postdocs: 141
Overall mean salary: $53,755 (range $38,500-92,000)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=19): $48,285
1 year (n=66): $54,438
2 years (n=34): $52,155
3 years (n=13): $57,132
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
July 2023
November 2023
April 2023
Number of postdocs: 133
Overall mean salary: $53,620 (range $38,500-83,000)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=29): $49,310
1 year (n=56): $54,454
2 years (n=28): $53,800
3 years (n=12): $56,060
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
November 2023
November 2023
November 2023
Number of postdocs: 139
Overall mean salary: $56,210 (range $38,500-120,000)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=66): $55,212
1 year (n=43): $56,898
2 years (n=14): $53,899
3 years (n=10): $60,100
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
January 2024
January 2024
November 2023
Number of postdocs: 145
Overall mean salary: $55,591 (range $38,500-120,000)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=5): $50,741
1 year (n=77): $54,138
2 years (n=38): $57,585
3 years (n=14): $54,228
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
April 2024
January 2024
April 2024
Number of postdocs: 150
Overall mean salary: $55,241 (range $38,500-120,000)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=18): $51,817
1 year (n=75): $54,004
2 years (n=34): $56,816
3 years (n=14): $56,335
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
July 2024
January 2024
April 2024
Number of postdocs: 148
Overall mean salary: $55,877 (range $45,000-121,200)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=42): $54,658
1 year (n=59): $54,398
2 years (n=27): $57,720
3 years (n=12): $57,613
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
October 2024
October 2024
October 2024
Number of postdocs: 147
Overall mean salary: $56,530 (range $45,000-121,200)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=62): $55,905
1 year (n=48): $55,736
2 years (n=23): $57,989
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 3, 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
January 2025
October 2024
October 2024
Number of postdocs: 134
Overall mean salary: $58,289 (range $45,000-121,200)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
1 year (n=67): $56,852
2 years (n=39): $57,852
3 years (n=18): $61,160
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with <1, 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
July 2025
October 2024
July 2025
Number of postdocs: 152
Overall mean salary: $59,930 (range $38,250-105,000)
Mean salaries broken down by years at Dal
<1 year (n=45): $58,012
1 year (n=51): $59,957
2 years (n=33): $57,930
3 years (n=15): $66,890
Salaries are not shown for postdocs with 4, 5 or 6 years at Dal for privacy reasons due to small group sizes.
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