MUNFA’S INDEX
Number of days since receipt of notice of intention to begin negotiations: 606Number of days since MUN and MUNFA agreed on which Articles would be negotiated: 451
Number of days since MUNFA and MUN actually began collective bargaining: 335
Number of days since MUNFA presented a salary proposal to the administration: 300
Number of actual bargaining sessions: 19
Of 31 total Articles, number to be negotiated: 6
Number of Articles agreed: 0
Amount of money offered towards salaries or benefits by the administration: 0%, 0%, 3%, 3%
In conciliation on March 21, 2007 the MUN administration, at long last, responded to MUNFA’s salary proposal presented to them in May, 2006. Their salary proposal, in total, consisted of the following four lines:
Salary:
September 1, 2005 – 0% increase in all salary scales
September 1, 2006 – 0% increase in all salary scales
September 1, 2007 – 3% increase in all salary scales
September 1, 2008 – 3% increase in all salary scales
While many in Newfoundland and Labrador have felt forced to agree to this so-called “provincial template” on across-the-board salary increases, no professional group has settled for such a small increase alone. And nowhere would the impact of such a tiny increase be felt more than at MUN . At less than the increase in the cost of living over 4 years, such an increase would guarantee that MUN salary floors and salary scales would continue to lag behind similar Canadian universities, and by as much as 25% as of 2008. Furthermore, if ASM salaries continue to drop further and further below national standards, the administration will have to increase its use of market differentials if they are to succeed in recruiting new ASMs. In the absence of a fair and adequate salary scale, the administration will continue to pay some ASMs far more than others with equal qualifications and experience, and existing salary inequities will continue to get worse. If this salary offer were to become a reality, MUN’s claim to be a place “…where excellence in teaching, research and community service can be practiced” would become very much in question.
In short, we received a very disappointing response from the MUN administration. The MUNFA Negotiating Committee rejected it strongly. We will keep you advised as the course of conciliation unfolds.
MUNFA Negotiating Committee:
- Jon Church (Medicine) Chief Negotiator
- George Jenner (Earth Sciences)
- Dorothy Milne (Q.E. II Library)
- Lili Wang (Pharmacy)
- Paul Wilson (SWGC)
- Marian Atkinson (MUNFA Executive Officer, non-voting member)
