HALIFAX — About 1,000 professors, librarians and other teaching staff have been locked out by Atlantic Canada’s largest university less than two weeks before students return for the fall term.
Dalhousie University in Halifax locked out its employees around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday amid a contract dispute with the faculty association.
Picket lines went up soon after at campus locations across downtown Halifax.
At one of the picket lines, Fiona Martin, a faculty association picket captain, said the lockout came after a 48-hour lockout notice was issued by the university on Monday.
“We’ve known for two days that this was coming but it was a shock,” said Martin, an associate professor with Dalhousie’s Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology.
“For many of us this is our first time doing this (picketing) … I think spirits are high, but everyone is shocked that the administration is doing this.”
The faculty association has said the main issues in the dispute are wages and the university's reliance on limited-term contracts. It has said that it is looking for wages that keep up with inflation and make up for a nine per cent loss in real wages over the past 10 years.
The current contract agreement expired on June 30. In June, 85.5 per cent of the faculty association membership participated in a strike vote with 91.2 per cent voting in favour of strike action if an acceptable deal couldn’t be reached.
Conciliation talks concluded last month without an agreement and the lockout began as the faculty association’s membership was voting on the school’s most recent contract offer. That vote was to have wrapped up on Thursday.
In a statement Wednesday, the university said its ability to increase faculty salaries is limited.
The school said while its decision “has not been made lightly” it locked out professors after it offered them salary increases of two per cent per year over three years.
“The board’s final proposal offers what the university can to increase support for faculty while, at the same time, protecting core academic activity and minimizing further significant layoffs in the years ahead,” the university said.
The school said all classes taught by faculty association members are suspended for the duration of the labour disruption.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2025.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
