Five unions on campus – MUNFA, TAUMUN, CUPE, NAPE, and LUMUN are currently in the process of negotiating new collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with Memorial.
All five had their previous CBAs with the university run out this past year, and negotiations are underway to agree to new ones. Negotiations began over the summer.
We reached out to MUNFA earlier this semester for comment on the state of these negotiations.
“What we can say is that MUNFA is working to protect the working conditions of Academic Staff Members, which are also student learning conditions,” said a representative of MUNFA. “A strong collective agreement for MUNFA supports the teaching, research, and service that students and the province rely on at the only university in Newfoundland and Labrador.”
We were informed that sides have been running several formal meetings since June, and that there are some negotiations between formal sessions.
In an official statement on TAUMUN’s website at the end of September, they stated that they had “a successful first week of negotiations.” Further meetings are scheduled for October 28th, and more to follow in November, “to ensure we can deliver a contract before the end of Fall semester.”
At this moment, we have not heard any updates from LUMUN, NAPE, or CUPE on the current state of their negotiations, so we assume they’re in a similar boat as TAUMUN and MUNFA.
If Memorial cannot agree to a new CBA with any of the unions, that union could go on strike. MUNFA last went on strike in 2023, shortly after the start of the winter semester. The strike lasted for two weeks until an agreement was reached.
LUMUN nearly went on strike in 2024 during the winter semester, but an agreement was reached just in time.