SACKVILLE, N.B. — Talks between Mount Allison University and its faculty members have once again broken off as the two sides attempt to reach an agreement on the union’s contract.
The negotiations have been stalled since Nov. 27, when the provincial conciliator declared an impasse and filed his report to the Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour. Both parties now await the minister’s decision on whether to appoint a conciliation board, which is expected to come by the end of this week.
Matt Litvak, president of the Mount Allison Faculty Association, which represents 196 full and part-time faculty and librarians, said regardless of the minister’s decision, their negotiating team would like to get back to the negotiation table sooner rather than later.
“My hope is that we move this along,” he said on Monday.
Negotiations began in June for a collective agreement that ended July 1. A conciliation officer was appointed by the province in August and has had several meetings with both parties throughout the fall.
Litvak pointed out the main issue of contention in the discussions is on “faculty complement.” He said MAFA is requesting improvements to the collective agreement to protect the high quality of the academic programs at the university and to ensure equitable working conditions.
“We want to be able to deliver the front-line services to our students, to be able to offer the courses and programs they have come to expect,” he said.
Litvak explained that the number of full-time tenured faculty has been declining at Mount Allison over the past 10 years and part-time faculty are often called upon to fill the gaps in course offerings.
He said Mount Allison has incredible faculty members, who are simply trying to “maintain that level of excellence” people have come to expect from Mount Allison.
“We have a really good group,” he said. “And I think they need to be better supported by the institution.”
The university administration, meanwhile, states they look forward to the next phase of the negotiation process and the prospect of “real progress toward new collective agreements that reflect both parties’ core interests, and which are financially sustainable for the university as a whole.”
In an online update on negotiations, administrators termed the faculty’s contracts as “mature collective agreements,” ones which have been in place for 35 years for full-time workers and 15 for part-time.
“As such, we believe that negotiations should focus on a relatively small number of core subjects of interest to one or both parties.”
Instead, the university says the union’s bargaining team still has approximately 90 proposals on the table, and “at this stage of the process, such a large number of active requests for changes poses a practical impediment to constructive negotiations.”
If appointed, a conciliation board is a three-person panel consisting of a chair and two others, named by the two sides, which may recommend a final settlement in a report that is usually issued within two weeks of beginning the process. Its recommendation is normally non-binding.
If the minister decides not to appoint a conciliation board, however, MAFA may approach its membership to hold a formal strike vote or the university may lock out the employees. The parties can still continue to negotiate during that time. The minister may also choose to appoint a mediator.
The faculty members have already come out in strong support of their negotiating team during a straw strike vote conducted earlier this fall. While a straw strike vote is not legally binding, MAFA members voted 94 per cent in favour of the motion that they were willing to take job action, if necessary, in support of MAFA's bargaining positions, with 116 members participating in the vote.
