As we approach the December 15th target date suggested by the administration for the completion of negotiations, MUNFA's Negotiating Committee would like to review the current situation. We have asked, yet again, for the details (excluding numbers) of the administration's salary proposal. We have received no substantive reply. We have asked, yet again, for their comments on our proposed change in the pension plan. Instead of receiving a detailed answer, we were simply asked, "What is in it for the university?" meaning the administration. We have asked, yet again, about an early retirement package. We were told there would be none to negotiate. Whatever happened to the University Planning and Priorities Forum? Where there was widespread support for action on an early retirement incentive program, there is now complete silence.
The administration still balks at having a clear and explicit maternity/paternity policy. We suggested that the twenty-first century is at hand; it's time for a maternity/paternity leave policy. They replied, "You are not going to get it." MUNFA proposed a plan for ensuring that faculty members and librarians who apply for Long Term Disability benefits, but are refused by the insurance company, receive some income. We were told that they can "live off their savings." The administration still wants extensive modifications to the Collective Agreement, a rather surprising stance since the Collective Agreement has been in place for ten years now and functions well. We too want changes, but not so many changes that the process drags on forever. With the best will in the world on both sides, if there are many clauses to be negotiated, the process will take a long time. Our original proposal of last spring to limit the number of articles opened would have avoided an extended period of negotiations, but the administration refused our suggestion.
Nevertheless, negotiations have moved ahead, with some progress being made mainly on Articles 9, 10 and 11, which concern promotion and tenure procedures and criteria. Yet even here there remain sharp differences between the two sides. When we asked why changes were necessary, we were told: "The problem is our standards are too low."
We have also discussed Article 19, on discipline, but with little progress. Here the administration seems intent on making language changes in the Collective Agreement that would make it easier for them to discipline our members. They propose to add the vague and dangerously elastic concept of "unprofessional conduct" as a reason for discipline. In addition, the administration wants to delete the precise definition of "gross misconduct in research" from the Collective Agreement and would make further changes that could permit discipline to be imposed for even trivial offences. The wording changes proposed by the administration could be seen by some administrators as a license to pursue and discipline "difficult" faculty members and librarians. These proposals appear to reflect administration frustration over failure to impose discipline successfully. In our opinion, these failures are not caused by weaknesses in contract language.
While the administration's proposed clawbacks are not as extensive as those they proposed in the last two rounds of negotiations, their proposals offer no 'sweeteners'. Nevertheless, their proposals would seriously endanger working conditions and the collegial academic process at Memorial. They clearly want to erode the position of the full-time faculty, for instance, by abolishing any restriction on the number of contractuals and sessionals. Apparently, this semester, in the Faculty of Education there are nearly as many term appointees teaching as tenure-track and tenured faculty. Is this the administration's vision of the future? Is such a situation beneficial to the University or its students? A casual reading of the administration's proposals might suggest that their proposed changes are minor, but their cumulative impact would be to degrade our working conditions.
It seems to MUNFA's Negotiating Committee that real progress cannot be made until there are money proposals on the table. In a move in this direction, we have told the administration that we will have a detailed money proposal shortly after the beginning of the New Year, and that we would expect to see their offer at that time as well. The MUNFA Executive has agreed to our request for a Membership Information Meeting before we present our proposal to the administration.
MUNFA Negotiating Committee: