Negotiating News #7

Back to school. Back to the table!

As the summer draws to a close, many members are concerned about the status of their collective agreement. Your Negotiating Committee shares this concern. On June 9, the MUNFA Executive Committee formally requested that the province appoint a conciliator to facilitate negotiations between MUNFA and MUN’s administration. Since then, we have been ready to meet on several different sets of dates. All of those dates were cancelled — never by MUNFA. Despite your Negotiating Committee’s best efforts to reach a deal that will work for MUNFA members, the administration’s bargaining team has not met with your representatives at the table since June 8.

What does this mean for you?

Improvements to your working conditions are being held up by the administration’s inaction. MUNFA has presented proposals on workload, contract workers’ conditions, wages, climate action, and more. The administration has made no effort to reach a deal on any of these crucial issues and has failed to respond to several proposals put forward by MUNFA in the 12 months since bargaining was opened.

What can you do?

The university has agreed to meet on Sept. 8 and 9. Your Negotiating Committee will have a meeting to update members at 3 pm on Sept. 9. All members are invited to attend this virtual meeting, where you can hear directly from and ask questions to the Negotiating Committee. Register here to attend.

To show the administration that MUNFA members are united and demand to be taken seriously, you can join the Contract Action Team to participate in organizing your fellow members by emailing membership.munfa@mun.ca, or the Job Action Committee to assist with logistics by emailing munfa@mun.ca.

In solidarity,

MUNFA’s Negotiating Committee:
• Jon Church, Medicine (Co-Lead Negotiator)
• Nicole Power, Sociology (Co-Lead Negotiator)
• Dan Duda, QE II Library
• Patrick Gamsby, QE II Library
• John Hoben, Education
• Nathalie Pender, Grenfell Campus
• Janna Rosales, Engineering & Applied Science
• Ken Snelgrove, Engineering & Applied Science
• Travis Perry, MUNFA Labour Relations Officer (non-voting member)
• Dale Humphries, MUNFA Labour Relations Coordinator (non-voting member)