MUN faculty association condemns document giving students tips on how to cross a picket line
MUNFA and administration still in negotiations as strike looms
As a potential strike looms, the president of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association is condemning a document sent to students with tips for crossing a picket line.
On Thursday, in an email update on its labour dispute with the faculty association, the university directed students to continue attending classes and labs, and continue handing in assignments. Some classes taught by per-course instructors, who are not members of the faculty association, will go ahead.
In the update, MUN included a document with tips for "safely crossing a picket line."
"If you are having difficulty crossing a picket line, try an alternate route, or leave the scene and try again in a few minutes," advises the document.
Faculty association president Ash Hossain said he was shocked when he saw the document.
"It sounded to me like they're kind of … trying to create a controversial situation, a confrontation of some kind," he said. "Kind of using and abusing their power."
Hossain acknowledged that some students — especially those living on campus — are in a tough spot.
"If someone has to cross the picket line for legitimate reasons we're not going to stop that person. It's not like we're going to be there with sticks and stuff beating people up," he said.
Students' union criticizes document
Isabel Ojeda, the director of campaigns for MUN's students' union, called the document "disgusting."
"It's indicating, you know, with the word 'safely,' that our faculty are going to somehow be unsafe when they're on the picket [line] in the event of job action," she said.
Ojeda said the students' union asked the university to convene an emergency senate meeting to allow academic amnesty for students who do not want to cross the picket line and an extension of the course drop date.
"Students are incredibly anxious, I mean, they're being put into an impossible situation because students want to support their faculty who are out there on the picket line; they do not want to come to campus and attend their other classes," she said.
Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees president Jerry Earle and Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour president Jessica McCormick, among others, also criticized the document on social media.
The university is requiring all employees outside the bargaining unit, including per-course instructors, to report to work as usual.
Alison Coffin, member of the union representing per-course instructors — and former provincial NDP leader — said the university is putting per-course instructors in a "horrible" situation.
"They're making us disrespect our colleagues' picket lines," she said.
While the union is advising members to adhere to their employment contract and report to work, Coffin said, it supports the faculty association.
"MUNFA's issues are our issues. A lot of our contracts are tied together. We do support what they're doing, but we're being forced by the administration to cross that picket line."
The clock is ticking
Hossain said the two parties are still in negotiations and hope to reach a resolution before midnight on Monday. Without a resolution, the association's members are prepared to walk off the job.
"We are still not there. We are trying to get a deal done," Hossain said.
He said the parties haven't made much progress this week but will stay at the table until Sunday night, if necessary. He said he's optimistic the faculty association and the university will reach a deal.
"They will work through the clock to get it done."
On Thursday, a university spokesperson said MUN spent $56,657 on a conference that took place partially at the high-end Fogo Island Inn last fall.
While speaking with reporters about the conference, Progressive Conservative MHA Barry Petten said he hopes the strike can be averted.
"Any time a university, our only university, is going to shut down for a labour dispute in the middle of a semester during the winter is concerning," he said.
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With files from The St. John's Morning Show