(NOSM U Via Acadia Broadcasting Files)

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine Faculty and Staff Association and members of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 677 are entering provincially mediated conciliation with NOSM U’s administration on September 22.

NUFSA and NOSM U administration remain far apart in negotiation with the main point of contention being job security.

The association is hoping to see new contracts in line with other Ontario medical schools.

This comes after NUFSA and members of OPSEU Local 677 voted 100% in favour of a strike mandate last month.

A request is being made to NOSM U’s administration to demonstrate a willingness to use the conciliation process to negotiate a fair and equitable collective agreement that benefits faculty, staff, students, and the Northern Ontario community.

“The working conditions of NOSM University faculty and staff are the learning conditions of students, and ultimately, the care conditions of the people of Northern Ontario,” said Alanna Makinson, a third-year student at the institution. If NOSMU’s administration values training the next generation of doctors, they must show it through fair pay and benefits, and working conditions for the staff that do that work.”

The previous bargaining agreement between the two parties expired on June 30, 2022.