AUFA conducted their strike vote and the results are in. The email from AUFA to faculty states “The AUFA executive is pleased to report that we have received a clear mandate from the membership, with 81.1% of voters voting to authorize the executive to call a strike if necessary”. This is technically correct, but the numbers received by the Ath would indicate that there is far less support for a strike than you would think.
While 81.1% of voters cast a ballot in favour of a strike, 18.4% of the bargaining unit did not vote. According to AUFA, an unused ballot is counted as a no vote. That means only 66.2% of faculty actually voted for a strike. While this number seems high, it also indicates a significant part of the faculty either does not want to strike or did not take the time to cast a ballot.
This is an important step in the negotiations for the Union, with the executive now authorized to implement a strike (although this vote does not mean a strike will occur imminently). I imagine an agreement will be reached very quickly. The Ath did not reach out to either the ASU or the Board of Governors for comment.
