'Either party can take action now': Strike looms as MUN and faculty at impasse over new contract

Students will be returning to Memorial University for the winter semester later this week — but maybe not for long.

The university's professors are inching closer to a strike as an impasse continues over contract negotiations.

"Both parties notified the conciliator and they filed a no-vote report to the labour minister. The cool-off period ended Dec. 29, so on paper either party can take action now," said Ash Hossain, president of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association and associate professor in the faculty of business administration. 

Hossain said a strike could happen as early as the third week of January.

"We can vote for a strike, they can lock us out. That's the situation right now."

The association represents about 800 faculty members. Negotiations for a new deal have been ongoing since June but discussions broke down in December.

The association is seeking an eight per cent front-end salary increase, backdated to Sept. 1, to help combat inflation. It is also asking for an annual two per cent salary bump for the following three years. The university has countered with an offer of a two per cent increase backdated to Sept. 1, followed by a series of six increases of between one and two per cent between now and 2027. It has also offered a $2,000 signing bonus.

Hossain said there are two other sticking points in negotiations: retired benefits for new hires and job security for non-tenured professors. But he said salaries are the main stumbling block.

In December, Neil Bose, the interim provost and vice-president of research at Memorial University, told CBC News salary discussions had stalled negotiations.

"[It] is way beyond the government template that the university is working within. And so it's a question of finding the middle ground … where we can come to agreement," Bose said at the time.

The "government template" refers to the two per cent salary increase that the province is willing to fund for public sector workers, according to the university. MUN could, in theory, offer professors more money, but it would have to find the cash elsewhere.

"Essentially MUN gets the funding for salary raises from the government, but only if we stay within the template," Bose said. "As the university is constrained, as everyone knows from the point of view of the removal or the winding-down of the tuition offset grant, we're in a very tight financial situation."

Bose said the university had asked the provincial government if it would finance a salary increase for professors beyond the two per cent limit set by the government's template, but said that request was refused. 

Hossain said the province's decision amounts to "political interference" in the collective bargaining process. The government said last month it plays no part in negotiations between the university and the faculty association.

In a statement to CBC News last month, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador said the "provincial government does often provide general guidance and advice to entities in the public sector, but we do not bargain on behalf of Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Hossain also said he believes a deal was nearly reached over a month ago but fell through. CBC News has asked MUN to comment on the potential deal and provide its version of the event. 

'Seems like a double standard' 

Meanwhile, some professors are preparing for what they believe is the inevitable. 

In an interview in French with Radio-Canada, Anne Thareau, a professor in the university's languages department, said she would not be surprised if the strike does happen.

"I'm getting ready for a strike because the negotiations have really broken down," Thareau said.

"We'll lose money in the end if the raise doesn't cover the increasing cost of living. It'll mean in the end that our salaries go down."

Thareau pointed to the salaries of the university's top executives and those who have had significant raises on top of other perks. 

"When you see the salary of the president [$450,000] and the administrators, who have had significant raises, $1,500 [per month] for her housing allowance, $1,000 for her car, it really seems like a double standard," she said.

While professors do have good salaries, Thareau said, they spend years earning the degrees that qualify them for tenured positions. In the interim, as contract professors, they make very little.

"It's true that they are good salaries. But we start very late. You need a doctorate, at least, to get a position that could lead to tenure," she said.

"Without a doctorate, people are forced to work as contract instructors who make $5,000 per course per semester and are only allowed to teach a maximum of two courses. That's $10,000 per semester."

The faculty association does not represent contract instructors. 

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador