August 30, 2000

STATUS OF CONCILIATION

Efforts to negotiate a Collective Agreement with the assistance of a conciliation officer began on the afternoon of August 23^th, when the conciliation officer met separately with the MUNFA and MUN negotiating teams.

MUNFA confirmed the reasons it had requested conciliation at this time:

• Negotiations have been ongoing for nearly 11 months.



• MUNFA has received no response to proposals for salary increases, early retirement, and pension reform, although each of these has been in the administration's hands for several months.



• The administration has repeatedly indicated dates on which MUNFA could anticipate a response to its financial proposals. These dates have come and gone. We have had no clear indication from the administration as to when a response could reasonably b e expected.



• After 60 negotiation sessions, only four articles of the Collective Agreement have been agreed and signed off. There are significant differences between MUNFA and administration positions on a number of fundamental issues. On some of these, includi ng duty to accommodate disability, fair operation of Tri-Council research ethics boards, and collegial appointment of academic administrators, the administration has simply rejected MUNFA's proposals outright.

We explained to the conciliator that MUNFA has been very patient, but that in our view the administration has not been treating negotiations with sufficient seriousness; our intention in seeking conciliation is to prod the administration so the process can be concluded. We emphasized that we are ready and willing to negotiate.

The conciliator met with the administration side, then returned to advise MUNFA that the administration claimed it was still not in a position to deal with monetary issues. Consideration then was given as to how best to proceed. At the conciliation o fficer's request, we agreed to meet with him and the administration team on Thursday August 24^th, and, as a familiarization exercise for the conciliation officer, to review all outstanding matters.

At the August 24^th session, MUNFA's chief negotiator led the conciliation officer and the meeting through the outstanding contract issues, clause by clause. The administration's chief negotiator occasionally offered comments, and occasional ly the conciliator asked for clarification; however, this was not a negotiating session as such. For the first time since negotiations commenced on October 4, 1999, virtually all administration team members were in attendance. It is possible they had no t been well briefed; one of them expressed genuine appreciation for the overview provided.

The conciliation officer then again met separately with each side. He reported to us that the administration's position remained unchanged. We explained, and he appreciated, the obvious: money has to be on the table to focus the negotiations, and mat ters are at the stage where the conciliation process will have to be pressed forward, or brought to an end.

It was agreed that conciliation will continue on September 8^th. We explained that on that date we will require a response to MUNFA's financial proposals and responses on 16 other Collective Agreement articles including the article on the c ollegial appointment of administrators. Failing this, we would be forced to conclude that the conciliation process was futile.

The conciliation officer conferred with the administration side, and reported that they had indicated to him that 'insofar as possible' they would respond on all outstanding matters. MUNFA agreed to prepare responses on 4 articles.

We consider it a matter of grave concern that the administration appeared unprepared for conciliation, and was still not ready to respond to MUNFA's financial proposals. This despite the fact that from the outset of negotiations nearly one year ago it has been fully apparent to the administration, as well as to MUNFA, that if MUN is to have any hope of regaining a competitive position among comparable universities, salaries must increase dramatically. Similarly, despite comments from the administrati on over the past year regarding faculty renewal, there has been no response to our early retirement proposal.

With regret, we must advise Members to prepare for the possibility that negotiations will be unsuccessful and that job action may be required in the coming weeks to achieve a settlement.

MUNFA Negotiating Committee:

• Bill Schrank (Economics) - Chief Negotiator
• John Bear (Medicine)
• Elizabeth Browne (Library)
• Jon Church (Medicine)
• Malcolm Grant (Psychology)
• Clar Matchim (Business)
• Eric Mintz (SWGC)
• Jim Overton (Sociology)
• Elizabeth Yeoman (Education)
• Chris Youé (History)
• Marian Atkinson (MUNFA Executive Officer, non-voting member)

All issues of Negotiating News are accessible at http://www.mun.ca/munfa/negnews.html

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