Since January 19, academic librarians, and counsellors represented by the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) have been on strike. Pensions, wages, and workloads are major issues for the faculty association.

During the university’s bankruptcy-driven restructuring in 2022, 110 teaching positions were eliminated; followed by a wage freeze and increases limited to one per cent for each of the following three years; professional allowances were cut; workloads were increased; and the pension plan was decimated.

Due to the university’s bankruptcy exit loan agreement, the employee pension plan at Laurentian cannot be negotiated during the current contract talks. In fact, the exit loan agreement prohibits the university from establishing a defined-benefit pension plan before 2038. LUFA argues that the exit loan agreement has lost its reason for being, since Laurentian’s financial situation is now under control. LUFA has launched a campaign asking the provincial government to release Laurentian from the exit loan agreement, and has filed a challenge under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing that the exit loan agreement abrogates collective bargaining rights.