The Muse, vol. 39, no. 12 (27 January 1989)

              OB DOQ
January 27, 1989
Memorial University
Volume 39, Number 12
MUN FA gets a strike mandate
By HEIDI HARLEY
The union representing faculty
and librarians at MUN was authorized to take strike action by
an 84% yes vote on Wednesday,
January 25. The union was in a
legal strike position on Thursday,
Janusry 19, but the negotiating
team has pledged to return to the
table before taking any action.
At a press conference on
Wednesday, Catherine Penney of
the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association
said, "We are not willing to subsidize the university out of our
pockets any longer."
The main issue in the negotiations has been salaries. MUNFA
wants the administration to come
up with an offer that will bring
salaries for professors at MUN
into line with salaries at other
comprable post-secondary institutions in Canada and Newfound-
* land, and also with the salaries in
the Newfoundland Teachers Association.
According to Penney, the administration responded on December 16 with an offer which
would barely cover inflation.
"They admitted that our arguments for a major 'catch-up' increase were sound, but said that
'every nickel' they had went into
their minimal offer," she said.
MUNFA responded with a
counter-proposal that would
phase the desired increases over
three years, but the administration failed to better their own
This Week
in the
Muse
3 Negotiations
4 Editorial
5 Fraternities
7 Demos in
Montreal
8 Stephen Lewis
11 Sports
13 Cochrane
concert
14 Mouth off
15 Whappen
offer.
Penney said, "Finally it became clear that the issue is not
their willingness to pay but their
inability to obtain the funds. It is
a government, and a public issue
now."
Paul Smith, president of the
Council of the Student's Union,
said that this is precisely the situation the CSU has been warning
the government about for upwards of six years.
"We hold the government responsible. The faculty isn't going
to take it any more, but the administration simply doesn't have the
money."
Mark Graesser, a member of
MUNFA's negotiating committee, said that the treasury board
(the provincial government's
money distribution committee)
wasn't involved in the negotiations, but said that presumably the
administration is negotiating with
the treasury board.
"The budget for the 89/90 fiscal year is currently being put together, so now is when all the
important money allocation is
done. I have heard optimistic
sounds from the treasury board
about increasing total revenue, so
I'm optimistic."
The faculty association is a
member of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and
they have recourse to the CAUT
strike fund, so the MUN faculty
will have strike pay available.
Penney said that any potential
strike will conclude faster if students support the faculty. "Students could go on marches on the
Confederation Building, or could
join professors on the picket line.
Vocal support will really help us
out."
The Council for the Student's
Union, however, will try to not
endorse either side of the debate
strongly, said Smith.
"We support both the administration and the faculty in this debate, as the real fault in the
situation lies with the government."
At this stage, the CSU is going
to try to help the students keep
abreast of the developing situation through a publicity campaign.
"We just want to keep students
up to date and keep them from
panicking. The message is, 'if
you hear anything, check it with
someone else before acting',"
If a more serious situation develops, however, the CSU plans
to eventually mobilize the student
body. "The one thing we know we
can do and do well is move on the
government. The salary issue is
one that can be immediately settled with the government's cooperation."
Action the CSU can take includes marches, postcards, media
pressure and letters of support
from other universities, including
the Cabot and Marine institutes,
according to Smith.
"We don't want students to get
into independent action — it could
result in the student body as a
whole looking split. If society X
tried to arrange a demo and it
failed, the publicity would be bad.
The student body has to remain
unified."
In the case of a prolonged
strike, Smith said the CSU will
work on two basic issues: the semester can't be lost and the
student's money can't be lost.
"In the case of a prolonged
strike, we'd look at the possibility
of extending the semester into the
summer, weekend classes ~ anything to prevent the loss of a semester. The faculty assure me that
they'll do everything they can to
prevent that."
Smith said he had every assurance from the administration that
there won't be a lockout. "It
would look like bad faith bargaining — it's possible that a lawsuit
could be launched in that instance."
The CSU's non-aligned position is justified, according to
Smith, in that students don't necessarily benefit from the resolution in favour of the faculty of all
the non-monetary issues at hand.
"In the past, for example, students have had problems with the
faculty over academic freedom.
I've seen it used as a coverup for
mistakes. On the other hand, there
are lots of problems with the administration from the student's
point of view as far as appeals go,
etc. The students are separate
from all that — a third group
caught in the middle. We can't
align ourselves and corrupt our
objectivity."
Smith said he didn't want to
imply that academic freedom was
a bad thing, it was just that it was
an issue between the employers
and the employees.
"We agree with the basic issues, but we don't want to interfere with negotiations. As one of
their negotiators said, MUNFA's
quite big league enough to take
care of themselves at the negotiating table."
Median salary at Memorial compared with
Newfoundland and Canadian salaries
Thousands)
60
.    53.6
■
50.7
0
*"*fii
42.75
40
I
1
1
■
20
II
II
I
1
II
0
Canadian      NTA        Cabot     Marine    Memorial
Memorial profs make less
By BERNARD TOBIN
Figures released by Statistics
Canada in 1988 reveal that the
Faculty of Memorial University
are paid 26% less than the national average of other Canadian
Universities that are of comparable size.
In 1987-88, all ranks of faculty
at Memorial which includes Professors, Associate Professors, Assistants and others were paid an
average of $42,750, compared to
the national average of $53,800.
These figures exclude faculties of
medicine, dentistry and administrators. Professors at Memorial
receive an average of $54,025
compared to $66,275 which is
paid on average to Professors at
other universities.
Catherine Penney of the
MUNFA negotiating committee
said that she believes that if disparities in salary are not reduced,
it may seriously effect the quality
of instruction that the university
provides. She said she feels that
good professors will be lured
away by more lucrative wage offers.
"If this continues, what we will
get are Professors who can't get a
job elsewhere, and a handful of
dedicated Newfoundlanders who
remain in the province because of
family ties," said Penney.
"We need people of national
and international calibre if we are
going to be a quality university".
All ranks of Memorial faculty
on average receive more than
$10,000 less than faculty at the
University of New Brunswick.
Professors on average receive
more than $8,000 less than the
University of New Brunswick,
and in excess of $6,000 less than
Professors at Dalhousie university in Halifax. These twa universities are of comparable size and
position to Memorial.
Average salary of faculty at
other Canadian universities has
increased by almost $5,500 in real
terms over the last fifteen years.
In 1971/72 Memorial faculty
earned $42,337 in real terms. In
1987/88, that figure stood at
$42,750: an increase of just over
$400. During this time, the Memorial University operating budget has dropped from 5.7% to
3.9% of the provincial current account budget.
In Newfoundland, despite the
higher qualifications of Memorial
University professors, teachers in
the public education system and
those at other post secondary education institutions earn higher
salaries than university professors.
Teachers in Newfoundland are
paid according to their academic
rank and number of years of service. Under the terms of the current Newfoundland Teachers
Association contract, a teacher
who has a Grade VII ranking with
twelve years of service currently
earns $50,376.
Similar circumstances exist at
both the Cabot and Marine Institutes. At the Marine Institute^
faculty member of similar rank
earns $50,376 after eight years. At
the Cabot institute, that figure is
$45,768 after seven years of service.