Statement 1
University Salary:
Noel Roy, President of MUNFA, has been advised that the Payroll Office is depositing into direct deposit accounts payment for the entire two weeks ending today, so that salaries of Academic Staff Members will include the days we have thus far been on strike.
The administration has indicated that it will seek repayment at some future date for that portion of salary payment given for the days on strike, and that this repayment will be the subject of discussion with MUNFA.
Munfa members should understand that this overpayment will in no way alter payment of strike benefits, which are $50 per day, every day, including weekends, while we are on strike. Payments will begin on Tuesday, November 7 at Strike Headquarters.
Statement 2
Accuracy of Information:
Yesterday, in the last two of our "Day-by-Day" releases, we had reason to point out the inaccuracies of information in circulation. We noted that salary information purporting to represent the administration salary offer were inaccurate. We pointed out that at no time were librarians offered a salary increase of 23%.
We stated then that the % increase was a good deal less. In a press conference on the 29th of October, Axel Meisen, President of the University, stated:
the Librarians are covered by that 13 per cent.
Those who purport to represent the administration to us might do well to consult with the administration before they circulate their inaccuracies and pretend that they are telling the truth.
Statement 3
Payment to Sessionals:
In a press release dated 29 October 2000, President Meisen indicated that since Sessional teachers are not part of MUNFA, they were not covered by the administration's salary offer. This is true, but it does not adequately address MUNFA's concerns.
Sessional teaching, on which this University relies in many departments, is paid at the rate of $3,519 per course, an amount that has not changed in over ten years. It is unacceptably low.
And it affects our members. Sessional teachers, many of whom are fully qualified, move from per course arrangements to contractual teaching (covered by the Agreement) and back again. This means that a sessional teacher this semester may be a contractual next semester. For these academics, raising this per course payment is of crucial importance, especially since so many of them are assigned the most onerous teaching loads in our institution.
It affects our members in other ways as well. All Academic Staff members who do overload teaching are paid this paltry sum. So raising the per course payment is important to those who volunteer for extra teaching. It is important too because if we do not ensure that teaching is properly compensated we are allowing the administration to send a strong signal to the entire professoriate that they do not value teaching.
It is particularly ironic to see the administration refusing to negotiate seriously on this matter when it allocates resources to instructional development and other public relations efforts at enhancing teaching. The most important way to enhance teaching is to offer proper compensation to those who do it.
Statement 4
Status of Negotiations:
In the early morning of 31 October 2000, conciliation between MUNFA and MUN was broken off. All members of MUNFA should understand that MUNFA remains ready to negotiate and that negotiations can proceed even though we are on strike.
Since talks broke off on Tuesday morning, MUNFA has been contacted by the conciliator. He was told that MUNFA has not changed its position and was waiting for the administration to show some flexibility on the outstanding issues, on most of which the administration has never been willing to negotiate. The conciliator said that the administration was not willing to change its salary offer. MUNFA told the conciliator that we were more interested in getting further information on what was driving the administration's salary offer so that serious negotiations over the salary package could continue. MUNFA hopes that negotiations can resume very soon.
MUNFA has made a request through the conciliator that the administration provide MUNFA with information they used in making their salary calculations.
MISCONCEPTIONS, MISREPRESENTATIONS: SOME COMMENTS
1. STUDENTS
Students are caught between two opposing forces in the present labour dispute. But this does not mean that faculty members supporting the strike don't care about students, or that the only people who do care are those opposed to the strike.
Faculty members have done their best to mitigate the academic impact of the strike on students, and would like nothing better than to get back to their classrooms without delay. Students seem to appreciate that MUNFA members do care, and have demonstrated this by messages of support, and visits to picket lines bringing coffee and donuts.
Students also appreciate that MUNFA would not have taken this unprecedented strike action unless absolutely necessary. They know that academic quality, present and future, depends on a faculty that is properly and fairly paid, and properly and fairly treated by the university administration. They know that something has gone badly wrong at the university when conservative, responsible and senior academic staff members walk out.
MUNFA believes that this contract can be settled quickly, and that classes could resume next week. But this will only take place if the university's negotiating team begins to exhibit the creativity and flexibility which President Meisen has urged on both sides.
If the university administration does not settle a new collective agreement with MUNFA in timely fashion, then we can only conclude that it is the administration which does not care about students. The onus lies with President Meisen and his fellow administrators.
2. SALARIES.
On October 31, President Meisen stated that the University was offering "an overall increase for everybody of about 20.6 percent ... and for people who do not have doctorate preparation [ie, those with MAs], an increase of about 15 percent on average." Note that there has been no increase in salary scales since 1989.
Dr Meisen's statement is generally accurate - except that everyone will not receive 20.6 percent, and by no means all faculty members with MAs will receive 15 percent.
- Faculty members who are assistant and associate professors, and who are near or at the ceiling for their ranks, will receive significantly less.
- Colleagues who teach on a sessional (fee per course) basis have been offered a paltry increase of 8 percent over three years - from $3,519 to $3,800. This becomes the stipend for overload teaching for all faculty members. There has been no increase since 1989.
- Colleagues who teach distance education courses stand to lose approximately 25 percent of income per course.
The Sunday Telegram ( 30 October) implied that the average salary of a faculty member at Memorial University was $90,000. This is untrue. The figure cited is the average salary across Canada for a faculty member who has reached the rank of full professor. There are very few, if any full professors at Memorial University who are paid at this level.
3. WORKLOAD.
There seems to be an assumption in some quarters that faculty members have a very short work week. It needs to be remembered that faculty members do more than teach - they are also required to supervise graduate students, seek out grant money, conduct research, publish the results, and to serve on university committees. Many colleagues are involved with national associations, disciplinary and professional, as well as with local groups, and work with businesses, and all levels of government.
4. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ISSUES
The university administration and its supporters argue from time to time and in various ways, that the MUNFA executive has behaved, and continues to behave in an improper manner. MUNFA has these comments:
- Information. MUNFA has kept the membership informed on all collective bargaining issues - 28 editions of Negotiating News have been issued to date, and documentation has been ( and is) available from the MUNFA office and/or on the MUNFA web site. Several information meetings have taken place.
- MUNFA has been considerably more open than the university administration, and is interested in debating and negotiating all issues including salaries.
- The Negotiation Process. Recent comments from the administration and some MUNFA members reflect what can only be construed as a deliberate misrepresentation of the collective bargaining process.
- The university administration's initial salary offer was not rejected by MUNFA. It was circulated to all members, and discussed at a general meeting. The MUNFA bargaining team in due course submitted a counter-proposal. The negotiation will continue.
- Individual clauses of collective agreements are never submitted to the membership for separate votes. The vote is on the proposed collective agreement as a whole. The collective agreement is not only about salaries.
- Some members demand that MUNFA negotiators reveal their "bottom line". Since the bottom line is, in the end, what can be achieved at the table, it cannot be precisely defined. And in any event, to reveal any thoughts on the subject in public would be poor bargaining practice.
Ultimately, MUNFA members have to trust their negotiating team, and have to accept that neither their team nor that of the administration can afford to be completely transparent. We vote on the outcome.
