April 6, 2018
Welcome to Negotiating News # 7 (NN #7).
The Negotiating Committee met with the administration on March 29, 2018. Both sides submitted responses to some earlier proposals related to duties, appointments, and the promotion and tenure of both Faculty Members and Librarians. The parties agreed to a number of modest changes that provided clarification to the relevant articles, but little in terms of substantial change.
MUNFA and the administration remain far apart on several key issues. As reported in Negotiating News #4, the employer continues to demand the elimination of the option of banked time for extra teaching, leaving remuneration as the only option. Also, as reported in Negotiating News #4, the administration continues to demand post tenure review for Faculty Members at the rank of Professor.
The administration continues to drag its heels on Articles 24 and 27. On December 12, 2017 MUNFA’s proposals included significant changes to Article 24 (Counselling Faculty Members), seeking to improve their working conditions in an environment where demand for their services is increasing. Nearly 4 months have passed without a response from the employer. The administration is also avoiding Article 27 (Patents and Copyrights) while simultaneously passing its new Intellectual Property Policy through Senate, and on towards the Board of Regents. MUNFA’s proposal seeking to improve rights to intellectual property that can be applied fairly to all members was also submitted on December 12, 2017. Again, the University has not responded.
Like Article 24, many MUNFA proposals are intended to improve the working conditions of members whom the administration has overlooked in the past. The administration’s position on Term Appointees remains unacceptable: it continues to demand that they be treated as second class employees with few of the rights and privileges provided to tenure track and permanent Academic Staff Members.
The employer continues to come to the table unprepared to earnestly discuss the significant issues. At the same time, they are making demands that are unjustified.
Lastly, representatives of your MUNFA Negotiating Committee met with members of the LUMUN bargaining teams. It was a good opportunity to share bargaining information, as both unions are currently in negotiations with MUN. We also discussed concrete ways both unions can work together to increase our power in negotiations for the benefit of our combined memberships, and the university community as a whole. We have pledged to keep each other up to date as negotiations move towards conciliation, job action, and beyond.
In solidarity
MUNFA’s Negotiating Committee:
- Jon Church (Chief Negotiator), Medicine
- Alison Coffin, MUNFA Executive Officer (non-voting)
- Dan Duda, Library
- George Jenner, Earth Sciences
- Kurt Korneski, History
- Leroy Murphy, Business
- Dave Peddle, Grenfell Campus
- Nathalie Pender, Grenfell Campus
- Nicole Power, Sociology
- Richard Rivkin, Ocean Science
