October 26, 2000
WHERE ARE WE NOW:
EVENING OF WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2000
When negotiations stopped last Friday, October 20th, it was agreed that negotiations would resume Wednesday morning, October 25th. However, once the MUNFA Executive fixed the strike date for Monday, October 30th, MUNFA's negotiators asked the conciliator to arrange a negotiating session as soon as possible, which proved to be Tuesday afternoon, October 24th.
Why was October 30th chosen as the strike date? It was chosen because a week was sufficient to settle the outstanding matters if negotiations became intensive, meaning day and night, and if the administration was ready to negotiate seriously. The MUNFA negotiators also believed, based on past experience, that without such a deadline it would be impossible to conclude negotiations this semester. As everyone by now appreciates, we have been negotiating for over a year and it is high time a new Collective Agreement were in place. MUNFA's negotiators were certainly ready to negotiate, as we always have been.
Negotiations Tuesday and Wednesday have been disappointing.
MUNFA proposed on Tuesday that both parties work to settle eleven articles that day. In most of these articles only a few clauses remained unsettled. Some progress was made but only one article was completed. The administration was unable to continue to negotiate after 5:00 pm. On Wednesday, more work was done on these articles and one other, but little progress was made. In one case, for example, MUNFA was prepared to accept MUN's proposal with a small wording change when the administration decided that their own proposed clause was not well written and stopped discussion until they could revise their own language. The administration was again unable to continue to negotiate after 5:00 pm.
Clearly, the administration does not yet appear serious about the need to conclude negotiations in a timely manner. It appears to us that the administration thinks it can wait until the last minute, at which point MUNFA will surrender on the outstanding language and money issues. The MUNFA Negotiating Committee has not however come all this way to give up on working conditions, salary and benefits. We do not want a strike and do not think a strike should be necessary, but if the administration will not work seriously to achieve a settlement, then there will be a strike.
MUNFA Negotiating Committee:
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