Staff at NSCAD University are on the picket lines this week, striking for fair wages and job security. The move comes nearly two years after employees became certified with CUPE Local 3912 and began bargaining for their first contract.

CUPE and NSCAD staff strike. PHOTO BY NATALIE CHIASSON /Acadia Broadcasting

Union representative Lachlan Sheldrick said NSCAD built its strong reputation in the Maritimes during the 1980s and 1990s, when staff were well compensated. But that reputation hasn’t kept up with time.

“And that pay has not gone up for our members, for our teaching assistants, and research assistants. That pay has not gone up since 1984. So people here today are making the same money that their parents might have been making had they been here 40 years ago,” Sheldrick explained.

CUPE and NSCAD staff strike. PHOTO BY NATALIE CHIASSON /Acadia Broadcasting

Staff began striking outside NSCAD’s downtown Halifax campus on Duke Street on Wednesday and continued picketing today despite the cold.

Union president Lauren McKenzie smiled as she told our reporter that she’s proud to stand with the workers.

“I’m not willing to stand aside and let these folks sort of wither in these poor work conditions that NSCAD has set for them, because we see how valuable they are,” McKenzie glowed.

CUPE President Lauren McKenzie talking with passerby about the strike on Duke Street. PHOTO BY NATALIE CHIASSON /Acadia Broadcasting

This is the third time within recent months that CUPE members at post-secondary institutions took job action in Halifax.

Dalhousie, Mount Saint Vincent, and Saint Mary’s all ratified agreements with part-time staff in the fall of 2025.