The information below is for people that are not a current Dalhousie postdoc. If you're a postdoc and are looking for information, please see the Strike FAQ page.
Here we have some key information on what we're asking for, what has happened in bargaining to date, demographics of postdocs, ways that you can support Dalhousie postdocs, and the final offer that Dalhousie admin gave us and that we asked postdocs to vote on in December is at the bottom of the page. Please reach us at info@a-duress.ca for more information.
‘Postdoc’ is shorthand for Postdoctoral Fellow. A postdoc is an individual who has obtained a doctoral degree i.e. PhD/MD. They continue their research training under supervision of a Principal Investigator, or “PI”. Historically, postdoctoral research positions were considered a temporary position on the academic career path, but increasingly people do multiple postdoctoral contracts in a row. Postdocs gain skills and experience that will prepare them to become principal investigators or faculty members. Postdocs also take responsibilities like mentoring, grant writing and teaching. While the vast majority of postdocs work in STEM fields, these types of positions are becoming more common in social sciences and the humanities.
At Dalhousie University, there are two types of postdocs: Postdoctoral Fellow Employees (PDFs) or Postdoctoral Scholars (PDSs). Which of these a postdoc is depends primarily on how their salary is paid; PDFs are paid through Dalhousie University and are unionised, PDSs are paid via an external fellowship and are not unionised. There are usually ~150 PDFs at Dalhousie University.
Our previous Collective Agreement expired at the end of 2021. Throughout the first half of 2022, we surveyed postdocs on what their priorities were and used these to put together our new proposals. The proposals were ratified in October 2022; 82 postdocs voted, unanimously in favour.
We held bargaining negotiations in November 2022 and again in January 2023. While there were several productive conversations with the Dal admin team, we were frustrated to repeatedly be told that we are highly-skilled, junior academics who are valued by the University, but not to see this reflected in their responses to our proposals. In January 2023, we brought 5 additional postdocs to watch the negotiations, and the Dal admin bargaining team left the room after 10 minutes, claiming that their “psychological safety” was threatened by the additional postdocs. For the remainder of the negotiations, they only sent their lead negotiator and - after we presented our proposals to their lead negotiator - would only discuss any of the proposals via email. Shortly after these negotiations, they filed for conciliation.
We had conciliation meetings in March and September of 2023, but eventually reached impasse at the September meetings. Throughout these meetings, we have compromised on many issues that were important to us (and come to agreements on several non-monetary issues), but have not seen the same willingness to negotiate from the Dal admin. You can see full details of all of our initial proposals and the compromises that we have made here.
You can see a full timeline of events here.
We received Dal's final offer on October 25th. Dal made no increases to their minimum salary or annual wage adjustment proposals, meaning that they are still proposing that many postdocs be paid below a living wage and they are not willing to give postdocs the improvements that they have given all other groups of employees. Between December 8-13th 2023, we held strike votes where postdocs voted to either accept Dal's terrible final offer (see below for the full offer) or to give a strike mandate. These strike votes had great turnout and a strong majority voted to give us a strike mandate.
The final offer proposed by Dal’s admin is not even enough to live on according to the numbers on their own website. These numbers suggest that [in March 2023] you need $2,423 just for rent (1 bedroom apartment), utilities, mobile phone and groceries (not including transportation, medication, clothing, childcare, etc.). However, the minimum salary is currently only $38,500 (~$2,500/month net), with their minimum salary proposals suggesting this be increased to only $42,500 (~$2,700/month net) in 2024 and $45,000 (~$2,850/month net) in 2025. A living wage in Halifax is currently $26.50/hour or $55,120.
After hearing that we had a strong strike mandate, the Dalhousie administration has asked us to come back to the bargaining table. This meeting is set for Friday, January 26th, 2024. If we are not offered the improvements that we deserve during this meeting, we will be forced to take strike action.
Dalhousie University relies on the significant contributions of postdocs to uphold its international scholarly reputation as a world-class research institution and to attract and retain students, donors, and research funding. Postdoctoral fellow employees comprise only ~140-150 of the >20,000 people within the Dal community, yet they are absolutely essential for all research activities.
We all share common goals in advancing the important research that we all do at Dal, and we want to work together to ensure that our working conditions enable this work to be achieved. As the cost of living has sky-rocketed over the past few years, minimum postdoc salaries have only increased by approximately $1,000 since 2009. We know that grants have not increased proportionately with inflation either, but the proportion of grants that Dal takes in overheads approximately tripled between 2012 and 2018, and Dal reported a surplus of $9.5 million in the last two years. We have been calling on the Dalhousie administration to support faculty in ensuring that all postdocs receive a living wage and appropriate working conditions. Failing to meet these standards will force some of the brightest minds in Canada into poverty, or to seek better-funded positions outside academia or abroad.
The current minimum postdoc salary is $38,500 ($18.51/hr at the current 40hr week) or $2,250/month net. In 2023, a living wage is $26.50 in Halifax (note that at the time our proposals were made, a living wage was $23.50 in Halifax; $48,878/year) and the average cost of a one bedroom apartment in Halifax is $1,770 a month. Currently, 2% of postdocs are paid at the minimum salary, 11% are paid below $45,000 and 21% are paid below $50,000. Clearly, 79% of faculty supervisors are able to pay postdocs at or above our minimum salary proposals, but we want this to be applied to all postdocs.
We have currently compromised on our initial proposals and have proposed $45,000 for 2023 ($21.63/hr), $48,000 for 2024 ($23.08/hr) and $50,000 for 2025 ($24.04/hr), but the Dal admin team has proposed $42,500 for 2024 ($20.43/hr) and $45,000 for 2025 ($21.63/hr), with no increases for 2022 or 2023.
Currently postdocs have less extensive medical coverage than other Dal employees, are often not getting discounts to Dalplex (campus sports centre), and are not able to access the student medical centre.
We have proposed that our Healthcare Spending Account (HSA) be raised to what other Dal employees receive (from $400 to $750) and to receive the same extended Mental Health coverage that other employees were offered during the COVID-19 pandemic ($1500) at no increase to their premiums. The Dal admin team has proposed $500 for the HSA and will only look at the extended mental health coverage as a potential increase to our premiums.
Postdocs that are paid above the minimum salary do not currently have any annual cost of living adjustments, even though inflation was 7.3% in 2022 and Dal's website even states that rental costs increased 18-54% between 2022 and 2023. Clearly, our salaries do not stretch as far as they used to.
Dal has given other groups of employees (faculty, admin staff and maintenance) annual cost of living adjustments of 3% (2022), 2.5% (2023) and 2.5% (2024), yet proposed 0% (2022 and 2023), 1% (2024) and 1.5% (2025) for postdocs. Why should postdocs settle for less than other Dalhousie employees? We compromised on our initial proposals as Dal told us that they had not budgeted for any retroactive increases for postdocs - even though they had for other employee groups - and proposed the same increases for postdocs, just a year later.
At Dalhousie University, there are two types of postdocs: Postdoctoral Fellow Employees (PDFs) or Postdoctoral Scholars (PDSs). Which of these a postdoc is depends primarily on how their salary is paid; PDFs are paid through Dalhousie University and are unionised with PSAC Local 86001, PDSs are paid via an external fellowship and are not unionised.
There are typically around 150 PDFs and 50 PDSs, although postdoc positions are typically 1-2 years long so this number fluctuates often. It is only Postdoctoral Fellow Employees that are currently in bargaining.
In December 2023:
In October 2022, 50% of Postdoctoral Fellows were International scholars whose residency is Canada is contingent on their work permit; another 21% were Permanent Residents, and 29% were Canadian citizens. In October 2023, 43.5% of Postdoctoral Fellows reported that they were International, 21.7% were permanent residents and 34.8% were Canadian citizens.
October 2022 data shows that several equity-seeking groups are represented among Dalhousie Postdocs; 31% are women, 5% are racialized (although less than 1% are Indigenous), and 3% are LGBTQ+. In October 2023, 39% of postdocs reported that they had caregiving responsibilities.
Copyright © 2024 Association of Dalhousie University Research Employees - All Rights Reserved.
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