The MUNFA Executive wishes to update members on outstanding matters involving the course equivalency grievances and arbitration process.
As reported in MUNFA’s IB of January 28, 2025, the earliest dates available for the ‘expedited arbitration process’ to hear the outstanding grievances related to Course Equivalencies were June 24-27, 2025. These dates were confirmed in May 2025 as the University advised MUNFA that it would not settle the grievances via the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that MUNFA sent to the University in November 2024.
In preparation for the arbitration, the parties exchanged “consent documents” to help facilitate the arbitration process. MUNFA provided arbitrator Chris Peddigrew and the University with the feedback that individual ASMs provided to MUNFA when the final Course Equivalency Report was delivered to the parties as per Appendix J of the previous Collective Agreement. To protect the identity of ASMs, MUNFA redacted names from the feedback documents.
On June 23, 2025, the University’s Legal Counsel presented a subpoena requesting unredacted copies of the feedback. On the morning of June 24, MUNFA fought to preserve the anonymity of our members and advised the arbitration panel of serious concerns and possible repercussions for identifying individual ASMs and their feedback. The University withdrew the request, but this delayed the start of the arbitration process.
Legal Counsel for both parties made opening statements on the morning of June 26, 2025.
On June 27th, the University attempted to introduce privileged documents through witness testimony. MUNFA’s Legal Counsel objected, noting serious ramifications for labour relations province-wide if the documents were included. The arbitrator advised that he required time to review the case law and make a decision. A decision on the objection has not yet been provided.
The hearing was scheduled to resume on July 12, August 6 and 7 but these dates were cancelled by the University. The Parties have confirmed that the hearing will resume on September 22 and October 24 and 27.
As this process continues through the arbitration process, the MOU to pause timelines in Clause 3.17 remains in effect.
This has been a frustrating process to date, and the MUNFA Executive appreciates the patience of the membership on this important issue. Updates will continue to be provided as they arise.
Any questions or concerns on this matter should be sent to munfa@mun.ca.
