Fwd: Faculty Strike At Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Date:         Fri, 3 Nov 2000 17:10:26 -0500
>Reply-To: sethw at maine.edu
>Sender: H-Net Labor History Discussion List <H-LABOR at H-NET.MSU.EDU>
>From: Seth Wigderson <seth.wigderson at gte.net>
>Subject:      Faculty Strike At Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
>To: H-LABOR at H-NET.MSU.EDU
>
>From:                   Michelle McBride <mmcbride at cs.mun.ca>
>
>Hi Seth,
>
>I just wanted to let the listserv know that faculty at Memorial
>University of Newfoundland are on strike and could use emails of
>support.  MUNFA has been on strike since Tues and its wet and cold on the
>picket line.  We've had the first encouraging sign today that talks may
>resume over the weekend.  After a year of unproductive talks -- there
>was no salary offer until after MUNFA requested conciliation in Aug. 2000
>--  MUN administration finally put out a package which attempts to
>divide the faculty and librarians into those deserving of a raise
>(those with phds) and those not as deserving (Masters).  The salary
>increase offered for Phds is very generous, 20% which will almost bring
>MUN's salaries up to the national average. Increases for non-PHds vary
>but are much less, librarians have been offered around 13%. MUNFA would
>like to see the money already offered redistributed more fairly between
>all staff.
>
>  The day the strike was called the university cancelled classes
>and locked out all teaching staff, even those not in the bargaining unit
>(sessionals who teach less then 3 courses are non-union).  In an
>underhanded move, the administration then moved the fall break forward by
>2 weeks and cancelled classes for 3 more days.
>
>  For those wanting more information on the strike please check out
>MUNFA's webpage:
>
>http://www.nfld.net/munfa/
>
>To email the administration
>(President Axel Meisen) email president at mun.ca
>Thanks for your support, Michelle
>
>The main issues in the strike:
>
>Salary fairness: academic staff without PhD's, sessional and contractuals,
>and those near retirement are all seriously disadvantaged by MUN's
>proposal. Many of those without doctorates are very experienced staff
>nearing retirement, why punish them now after years of
>service?  The administration proposal also fails to address the plight of
>sessional and contractual instructors - those who teach on the basis of a
>per-course stipend that has not been increased for over ten years. They
>deserve fair and adequate pay and conditions.
>
>Pension reform: surplus pension funds should be used only for improved
>retirement benefits and for no other purpose.
>
>Faculty renewal: MUN talks about faculty renewal but refuses to negotiate
>severance and early retirement packages.
>
>Other issues: MUN initially proposed a variety of financial clawbacks such
>as limits on their contributions to health plans and an unfettered right
>to raise parking fees.