Most Academic Units at MUN have teaching equivalencies which compare nonstandard teaching formats to a standard 3-hour lecture course. If the Academic Unit (AU) has a graduate program where graduate courses are taught and graduate students are supervised, this equivalency document normally captures graduate student supervision in accordance with Clauses 3.16 and 3.37 of the Collective Agreement (CA) between MUN and MUNFA.
In May of 2015, MUNFA learned Academic Staff Members (ASMs) who supervised graduate students enrolled in the MUN Interdisciplinary PhD program (IDPHD) were refused any compensation or teaching remission for the supervision of graduate students. Accordingly, MUNFA filed both individual and Association (policy) grievances on this oversight and breach of the CA.
Since then, MUNFA and MUN have had several meetings and have exchanged several Memoranda of Understanding in attempts to resolve the Association grievance. To date, no agreement has been reached. The University claims that the IDPHD program is housed within the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) and, since the SGS is not an AU, it does not have an equivalency policy.
As a result, we are writing to advise ASMs that unless you received specific written approval from your Administrative Head that the supervision of graduate students in the IDPHD program will be considered as part of your assigned teaching duties, the supervision of these students may be considered voluntary and not included as part of assigned teaching duties.
If you have further questions or comments, please contact the MUNFA Office at 864-8642, or munfa@mun.ca.
