TIMETABLE OF NEGOTIATIONS
| DATE | Information re. Negotiations | Doc. # | Doc. Date |
| July 14, 2005 | MUNFA receives a letter from MUN administration stating that it wanted to begin bargaining. MUNFA agrees to meet with the administration. The meeting is scheduled for September 16, 2005 at which time the articles to be opened will be discussed. | IB2004/05:27 | August 30, 2005 |
| Dec. 16, 2005 | Meeting originally scheduled for September 16th finally held and articles to open agreed upon. | IB2005/06:11 | Jan. 12, 2006 |
| Jan. 26, 2006 | Information Meeting held for MUNFA members; MUNFA’s proposals circulated. | IB2005/06:11 | Jan. 12, 2006 |
| Feb. 6, 2006 | Negotiations to begin; administration asks for a postponement until February 11th. MUNFA agrees. | IB2005/06:17 | Feb. 24, 2006 |
| Feb. 24. 2006 | MUN administration requests another postponement until April 11th. MUNFA agrees. | ||
| April 11, 2006 | Negotiations finally begin and parties exchange proposals on Articles 11, 12, 23, 26 and 30. | Negotiating News #1 | April 20, 2006 |
| May 16, 2006 | MUNFA tables its proposal on Article 31 – Salaries and Benefits | Negotiating News #2 | May 16, 2006 |
| Sept. 18, 2006 | MUNFA sends letter to Dr. Meisen regarding the lack of progress regarding negotiations and the university’s refusal to provide a proposal re. Salaries and benefits. Dr. Meisen responds (Sept. 20, 2006), to say that “the timely and successful conclusion of our current negotiations is of great interest to me.” | IB2006/07:06 | Sept. 28, 2006 |
| Dec. 1, 2006 | MUNFA informs membership that it is beginning the process of setting up a Job Action Committee | IB2006/07:10 | Dec. 1, 2006 |
| Jan. 8, 2007 | MUNFA files a ‘Bad Faith Bargaining’ complaint with the Labour Relations Board. The administration requests a two-week extension to the deadline for their response, indicating they would work “constructively with third parties to formulate a response to MUNFA’s proposal on Article 31.” MUNFA grants the extension | Negotiating News #9 | Jan. 22, 2007 |
| Feb. 2, 2007 | Administration requests yet another 2-week extension. MUNFA does not agree. | IB2006/07:16 | Feb. 2, 2007 |
| Feb. 15, 2007 | MUNFA has still not received an offer from the university re salaries and benefits and writes the Minister of Human Resources, Labour & Employment requesting the appointment of a conciliator. | IB2006/07:19 | Feb. 23, 2007 |
| Feb. 22, 2007 | A conciliator is appointed and the first meeting is scheduled early March 2007. | IB 2006/07:21 | March 2, 2007 |
| March 21, 2007 | Almost a year after MUNFA tabled its proposal on salaries & benefits, the administration finally responds with one of its own that simply follows the 0%, 0%, 3%, 3% formula that government imposed elsewhere. | Negotiating News #10 | March 30, 2007 |
| April 13, 2007 | Administration ‘sweetens’ its proposal by offering a one-step increase (approximately $1600) on the last day of the agreement (August 31, 2009) at 11:59 p.m. This offer extends only to tenure track and tenured faculty members who are below the cap for their rank. Not only did this ‘sweetener’ require a number of concessions from MUNFA, it also EXCLUDED Librarians, CECs and term appointments – all of whom are in the MUNFA bargaining unit. | Negotiating News #11 | April 18, 2007 |
| April 18, 2007 | The Labour Relations Board dismissed MUNFA’s bad faith bargaining complaint. | IB2006/07:29 | May 4, 2007 |
| MUNFA conducts ‘straw poll’ to gauge members’ willingness to accept the university’s wage offer of 0%, 0%, 3%, 3%. Of the 80% of MUNFA membership who responded, an “overwhelming majority” would NOT want to accept this offer. | IB2006/07:33 | May 11, 2007 | |
| June 7, 2007 | Despite progress on Articles 23, 26, 30, there was no progress on Article 31 (salaries & benefits). MUNFA informed the conciliator that it would be asking him to file his report. This had been the first meeting between MUNFA and the administration since May 17th. | Negotiating News #12 | June 11,2007 |
| July 14, 2007 | The conciliator informed MUNFA that he had filed his report. As from that date, July 14, 2007, MUNFA is in a legal position to take a strike vote and to strike if so mandated. MUNFA begins to prepare for job action. | ||
| August 2007 | Preparation for job action begins! | ||
| August 24, 2007 | Conciliator calls both sides back to the table and talks resume. |
MUNFA presented its salary proposal in May 2006 one month after negotiations finally began. There was no response from the administration until 10 months later, in March 2007, and then only after MUNFA had requested a conciliator. The administration’s course of frequent delays, refusal to respond to MUNFA’s proposals, and continued intransigence has produced the situation in which we now find ourselves and leaves us with no recourse but to pursue the possibility of job action.
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)
