Negotiations between Memorial University of Newfoundland and its faculty association (MUNFA) reached an impasse earlier this month.
The stalemate comes after seven rounds of conciliation since mid-June that included 15 days of meetings in an effort to reach a collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expired last August.
“Despite good progress on addressing the five priority issues identified by MUNFA, and a hope that we could reach a collective agreement through this process, we are disappointed to report that conciliation was unsuccessful,” said Dr. Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president (academic).
During the conciliation at the beginning of October, outstanding issues included intellectual property, collective agreement duration, gender salary equity, a collegial accountability mechanism for those holding the rank of associate or full professor, paid leave available to faculty and equity for term appointments.
The university submitted two packages during that time, both of which they felt had, “a balanced approach to its and MUNFA’s concerns” and both were rejected by the union.
During an early November conciliation, university administration invited MUNFA to make an alternate proposal but allege that the union refused and broke off talks.
