Picketing information
Attention All Picketers
The lines change tomorrow.
Check at Strike Headquarters after your shift today (Wednesday, November 1st) to find out your new gate assignment for Thursday and Friday November 2nd and 3rd .
Check again on Friday for Monday and Tuesday schedules.
No picketing on the weekend!!
Thanks everyone. Keep up the good work.
8 a.m.
Yesterday, about 400 Academic Staff Members joined picket lines and/or participated in strike related duties in St. John's and Corner Brook. Picketing went on all day in three hour shifts at 12 different sites.
At a well attended MUNFA Annual General Meeting last night we learned that talks were suspended, but that it was expected that the conciliator might soon be calling the two sides together for further negotiations.
At the meeting, the following motion was introduced on behalf of the Executive:
That the negotiating committee persist in its efforts to obtain a settlement on salary, workload, other financial issues, and remaining language matters, that is fair and equitable to all MUNFA members.
The President of MUNFA, Noel Roy, indicated that support for the motion was support for the strike; if the motion was not supported, then the negotiating committee would immediately attempt to settle all outstanding issues as best they could. Extensive and heated debate ensued. The motion passed.
Yes: 307
No: 167
Two other motions were presented. One concerned the provision of text of all articles in the Collective Agreeement on which agreement with the administration has been reached, and the text of the proposals made by the administration for all remaining articles. This motion failed.
Yes: 160
No: 251
MUNFA's chief negotiator then offered to provide for the MUNFA web site all articles on which agreement has been reached.
The second motion concerned a special meeting. This motion was ruled out of order.
12 noon
PARKING:
On Thursday, November 2, 2000 parking at St. James Church will not be available for that day only. Please find alternate space. It should be possible to find alternate parking on the side streets around strike headquarters. We are sorry for the inconvenience. On Friday, parking will again be available in the usual space at St. James Church.
MUNFA BROADSIDE:
We would like to encourage all colleagues to submit as often as possible, a line or more of verse in any form including doggerel ("There once was a ...). We are putting together a record of our experiences during the strike, and welcome all contributions. Poetic contributions can be individual or collective.
Our first contribution was "President Meisen, please be nicen."
3 p.m.
MEDIA DISINFORMATION:
We have been advised that misinformation, disinformation and just plain lies are being disseminated on the open line shows.
For example, on the Tuesday morning CBC open line show, a faculty member alleged (1) that people were demanding higher strike pay to picket and (2) that the vote in support of the Executive motion was inflated by untenured people who feared retribution from their colleagues on future tenure committees.
Rank and file members who are so moved are encouraged to phone in appropriate corrections so that new and more accurate voices are heard by the public.
STRIKE PAY:
Payday will be next Tuesday. Pay is $50 a day, tax free, weekends included. Information on eligibility will be available shortly. Provisions will be made for those on sabbatical, and other such situations.
4:00 PM
Disinformation, Continued....
At the Annual General Meeting last night, as members entered Holy Heart of Mary Auditorium, they were presented with a set of numbers, purporting to be the impact on salaries of the MUN salary proposal. The source of these numbers was not provided.
MEMBERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THESE NUMBERS ARE IN FACT INACCURATE, AND THAT THE PRESENTATION OF THEM VIOLATES THE CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISIONS OF REVENUE CANADA
We point out one inaccuracy of which we are aware. There may be others.
For librarians, the handout singled out two librarians with Ph.D.'s whose salaries at the beginning of the contract, allegedly using the administration's proposal, would be $64,000 and at the end of the contract would be $77,000. This change represents an increase of 20%. At no time and at no negotiation has the administration offered more than 15% for librarians with or without doctorates.
In addition, MUNFA has never allowed individual salaries to be identified. Revenue Canada, moreover, does not release salary data for such a small group from which individual salaries can be deduced.
For Masters Prepared Librarians, the handout suggests that, using the administration proposal, at the start, they would receive $56,00 and at the conclusion, $69,000, for a total increase of 23%. At no time has such a number been proposed, offered, indicated or stated by the administration negotiators. It is simply NOT TRUE.
