Librarian and archivist members of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association are on strike, after negotiations with university administrators broke off Sept. 7.
     
The central issue of the labour dispute has been UWOFA’s attempt to narrow the wage gap between the library personnel at the university and their counterparts across the province.
     
“This strike is another example of the challenges faced by academic librarians as they resist attempts by university and college administrations to devalue librarians’ work and jobs,” said James Turk, executive director of CAUT.
     
“Librarians play a vital role for faculty and students and providing decent and fair working conditions is crucial in sustaining high quality education and research in our universities and colleges.”
     
The 50 unionized librarians and archivists have been working without a contract since July 1.