CUASA Celebrates 50 Years as a Union!

June 18, 2025

Today, June 18, marks 50 years since CUASA was certified by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) as the bargaining agent of all full-time faculty and professional librarians at Carleton University.

CUASA’s roots date back much earlier than that – starting as the Carleton College Academic Staff Association in 1952. Soon after, the Association joined the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) in 1953 and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) a decade later in 1963. Our strong connections with CAUT and OCUFA continue to this day.

In the early 1970s an administrative announcement suggesting that, due to increasing financial pressures, faculty might have to be laid off – this led Carleton faculty and librarians to conclude that the legal protections provided by unionization would be beneficial.

As then-President Jill Vickers wrote in the CUASA Newsletter in October 1974, “The difficulties we are currently facing in a variety of areas … force us to reconsider the structures within which we now operate … The question of how we may best reestablish our right to negotiate benefits for our members, therefore, will occupy the Council in the coming months”.

In January 1975, CUASA Council held a two-day “study session” to discuss the pros and cons of collective bargaining and unionization – even encouraging those who wished to participate cancel classes and notify their students in advance.

It is worth noting that women played an important role in the push to certification in 1975 as highlighted in this story of the documentary screening of Women at the bargaining table. White-collar unionization at Carleton University, “women were leaders in the push for legal collective bargaining because they believed that a union contract would help them gain equal pay for work of equal value”.

By April of 1975, CUASA had a certification hearing before the OLRB, and in June was certified as the first academic staff union in Ontario, incorporating not just faculty, but professional librarians and instructor employees in the bargaining unit.

As reported by The Charlatan, “Among issues CUASA would include in contract negotiations are the questions of salary (Carleton Profs. receive less pay than faculty anywhere else in the province), redundancy, working conditions (class size and hours of work), and fringe benefits including a dental plan. The organization was unsuccessful in attempting to obtain a dental plan in their last negotiations with the university” (Vol. 4, no. 21, 1975).

Fifty years later, CUASA’s fight for a fair and equitable workplace continues. The Association recently ratified a renewed collective agreement covering the period of May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2027 – which addressed many of those same issues as in 1975, including equity, salary, working conditions, and benefits.

For half a century, CUASA has proudly advocated for the rights and interests of our members, work that will continue just as it always has – with the support and dedication of those members that makes our union strong.

Today, as we look back on the last fifty years of collective action, CUASA extends its sincere appreciation to all those who got us here – from our many dedicated members who have represented CUASA and volunteered their time in service to the union, to our incredible staff, past and present, whose hard work and commitment make what we do possible!

Solidarity forever!