Conciliation talks resume tomorrow between Memorial University and its faculty and librarians’ union. The two parties have not met since August 24.
“After eleven months of negotiations, the administration still has not produced a salary package,” Dr. Noel Roy, President of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association (MUNFA), said yesterday. “We have asked the conciliator to tell the administration that when conciliation resumes it will be necessary that the University make an offer on salary, early retirement and pensions.”
Roy said, “It is imperative that the administration come back to the table on September 8th with a realistic money and benefits offer. Our members are fed up with the slow pace of negotiations, which have dragged out for far too long.”
MUNFA yesterday announced that it has established a Job Action Committee to coordinate plans for job action. “While it is our hope that a mutually satisfactory collective agreement can be negotiated without job action,” Roy said, “we intend to be ready in the event that job action is needed.” If conciliation fails, the faculty union will be able to conduct a strike vote fifteen days after conciliation ends.
Roy said, “Faculty have not had a scale increase in their salaries since 1989. This creates serious problems of retention and recruitment. Without the money to hire the best and the brightest, the quality of higher education in the province will suffer.”
Faculty at MUN are paid approximately 20% less than their mainland counterparts. Roy said, “Their benefits are also less attractive than at comparable universities on the mainland, and often less attractive than benefits packages provided to many other unionized workers in this province.”
Conciliation talks between the University and CUPE Local 1615 collapsed last week. The University is also in conciliation with workers at the Aquarena.
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CONTACT: Dr. Noel Roy
President, MUNFA
Tel: (709)737-8642 or 737-8245
Fax: (709)737-3703
