Today marks day four on the picket lines for striking Memorial University Faculty Association (MUNFA) members.
Comprised of over 800 faculty and staff, MUNFA members are demanding a fair new collective agreement. Meanwhile, students are supporting their professors on the picket lines, with many providing food and supplies.
Dr. Amanda Bittner, a professor in the political science department, said: “We’re hopeful, we’re having fun, we’re doing our best to stay motivated. We are hopeful for a fair deal as soon as possible.”
Bittner also commented on student support on the picket lines, “Students have been incredible. At this picket yesterday, we had a whole heap of students– nursing students, MUNSU students, poli-sci students– it was wonderful. It does a lot of morale. In general, what’s been nice is that the students seem to understand why we’re doing this, which is for them, for learning, for the future, and so on,” she said.
“Student support has been too kind!” commented Dr. Russell Williams, an associate professor in the political science department.
“Of course, we really appreciate student support. We share a lot of the same interests, and we’re concerned about a lot of the same issues that students are concerned about– particularly in the areas around governance, and students’ right to protest, and all of those things. It is not surprising that we’re working in support of one another. It is also brutally cold out, and everyday students come and bring us coffee– they bring us too much! We really appreciate them coming around,” said Williams.
Speaking about his experience on the picket line, Dr. Williams said, “The experience has been fantastic, and the pickets have been very positive– despite the fact that it is an awful time of the year to be on strike.”
“I think the university is very surprised at the amount of energy that the entire university community has at the moment,” said Williams.
Dr. Mehmet Caman, a visiting assistant professor in the political science department, commented: “We are in good spirits. We believe that we are doing a great job to show our dedication, that our university needs a new course, a new orientation. We are here to support our colleagues who are having some difficulty with their contracts. We’re here for more participation in decision-making processes– that academics should play a more important role in the university’s major decisions.” “We’re here to fight for our rights as academics, as workers, and I’m sure we’re doing a good job,” said Caman.
On the bargaining process between MUNFA and the university administration, Dr. Caman said, “I want them to listen to us. Listen to our arguments. If they have any response– any logical, rational, ethical, moral response– they’re supposed to share it with us because we don’t know why they’re saying ‘no’ all the time to very logical proposals. And, I want to see a university administration that is standing up for university interests. The university cannot function without its students, without its educators, professors. Our main function is research and education. The university is supposed to remember its core values,” said Caman.
“We can’t always approach our university, the only university of Newfoundland and Labrador, as if we’re running a business that is hoping for more profit,” Caman said.
Dr. Kurt Korneski, an associate professor in history, commented: “People are really happy– not happy to be on strike, but they’re happy to have all the public support, happy to have students’ support. It’s a really sort of gratifying and in some ways surprising response from the public and students.”
According to Dr. Korneski, collegial governance is a significant focus of the faculty union.
“For me personally, and I think this is also more general, the governance issues at the universities are top priority. I mean, I know that there’s been some discussion recently about the Act, which is also, it needs to be dealt with, but that’s a separate thing from collective bargaining. To have a guaranteed commitment to collegial governance in the collective agreement I think is one of the prime issues that we’re trying to deal with,” said Korneski.
“Also, the conditions of contract and precarious faculty of the university are becoming more numerous, unfortunately on the watch of this administration. People who don’t have any job security, who have to apply for their jobs every four to eight months, who don’t get the same kind of pay and benefits who are here and a central part of the community, deserve more respect and better conditions,” said Korneski.
“My department is 50% [of] what it was when I got here. I think there were 18 or 19 when I got here in 2009, and there are now 10. Yet, there are 100 positions that have been funded, but the money hasn’t been allocated to positions. It’s a governance issue, again.”
In a message to the university administration and bargaining team, Dr. Korneski commented, “We need movement on collegial governance. We need movement on contract people.” “The administration has to know that they need to get back to the table. They need to come back, willing to talk. I was in the negotiating team last time around, and we were constantly stymied by the unwillingness of the other side to negotiate. They need to come back and negotiate,” he said.
In a statement released today (February 2nd), MUNFA President Ash Hossain addressed comments made by interim Provost and Vice President Neil Bose, equating the strike disruption to ‘Snowmageddon.’
“The students now face the prospect of a severely disrupted semester. MUNFA is concerned that the administration has not thought through how extending the semester impacts students and their finances. But we are not surprised. Concerns like that rarely emerge in meetings of senior administrators. For instructors, the message is clear. Rather than “sharpening their pencils” and coming back to the negotiating table, administration is intent on holding the entire university community hostage,” MUNFA said in their recent update.