Strikes in the Canadian higher education sector: The feasibility of compulsory binding arbitration

Abstract

The prevalence of labour disruptions in the Canadian education sector requires a comprehensive analysis of the adverse implications of strikes for stakeholders and Canadian society in general. Education is a kind of public good that generates positive externalities and strikes in Canadian universities and colleges engender negative externalities as manifested in the infliction of psychological and financial harms on students who become hostages to the hostility between unions and academic administrators. The overriding interests of students, families, faculty, educational institutions, and the broader community necessitate that impasses in collective bargaining negotiations be resolved without resorting to strike. Therefore, there are compelling, justifiable grounds to consider integrating compulsory binding arbitration in collective bargaining agreements as a mechanism to tackle and resolve impasses in collective bargaining negotiations in the higher education sector.