(Sackville, NB) – The Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) is holding a “straw strike vote” today and tomorrow.

Voting starts this evening. Results will be announced by Wednesday morning.

“We had hoped to reach an agreement over the summer” said Rick Hudson, President of MAFA. “But with negotiations stalled, we – along with the Employer – have formally requested that the province name a conciliator.”

A straw strike vote does not give the union the right to call a strike. The legal process leading to job action takes several weeks.

“The purpose of the straw vote is to help the conciliator judge our members’ resolve” said Brian Campbell, MAFA’s Chief Negotiator. “The issues remaining on the table at this time are very important, involving questions of fairness and quality for now and for the future”, added Campbell.

“I remain optimistic” said Hudson. “MAFA is trying hard to achieve a negotiated settlement without a strike, despite Mount Allison’s past history”.

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For more information contact: Dr. Richard Hudson, President:

• (506) 364-2331 (office)
• (506) 389-2239 (res.)

PO Box 6314 Sackville NB E4L 1G6 tel:(506) 364-2289 fax: (506) 364-2288 http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA e-mail: [email protected]

(Sackville, New Brunswick)

The Mount Allison Faculty Association regrets that once again a distinguished retired professor has found it necessary to turn down the offer of professor emeritus at Mount Allison University.

Dr. Janet Hammock, pianist, composer, and Professor of Music at Mount Allison until 2001, announced today that, “I must postpone my acceptance of this title until the appointment of Professor Emeritus has been offered to Professor Michael Thorpe, and reoffered to Professor Charles Scobie and Professor George De Benedetti.”

Retired professors have been turning down emeritus appointments at Mount Allison since the Board of Regents in an unprecedented step in 1998 refused the University Senate’s recommendation that Professor Michael Thorpe be appointed emeritus.

A report by the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, published in April, 2002 concluded that, “ we find it difficult not to conclude that Professor Thorpe was denied the teaching and the emeritus status because he wrote openly critical letters about the administration which were published in various newspapers.” In the academic world, professors have the right – and indeed the duty – to use their academic freedom to analyze, to criticize, and to evaluate the workings of society.

During the past year there have been many discussions on the Mount Allison campus about revising the procedure for emeritus appointments. Dr. Rick Hudson, President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association, said, “I am hopeful that in the near future it will be possible to overcome the difficulties of the past so that all eligible professors, including Dr. Hammock and the others, will receive their emeritus appointments. It is very unfortunate that this is not yet the case.”

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CONTACT PERSON: Dr. Rick Hudson, President, Mount Allison Faculty Association

Ph: 506-364-2331

MAFA Office: 506-364-2289

PO Box 6314 Sackville NB E4L 1G6 tel:(506) 364-2289 fax: (506) 364-2288, [email protected]

(Sackville, New Brunswick) — The Committee of Inquiry into the complaint of Professor Michael Thorpe (and the Mount Allison Faculty Association) has now published its report.

Professor Thorpe retired from the university after long and distinguished service. He was refused by the then Vice-President Academic an appointment to teach an extension course for which he was highly qualified and for which he had been recommended by his department. He was later refused by the University’s Board of Regents, on the advice of the Vice-President, the honorific title of Professor Emeritus for which he had unanimously been recommended by a Committee chaired by the same Vice-President and subsequently approved by the Senate (the University’s highest academic body).

Both the refusal of an extension appointment and the refusal of Emeritus status were unprecedented.

The Committee was appointed by the Academic Freedom and Tenure committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

The Committee’s investigation was thorough and their report gives an extensive history of Professor Thorpe’s relationship with the University administration and the events that resulted in his complaint supported by the Faculty Association.

The report advises that “..all steps be taken to ensure that Professor Thorpe be awarded Professor Emeritus status and that he receives fair consideration in any subsequent applications he makes for a teaching position at Mount Allison University.”

Many of those familiar with the history of Professor Thorpe’s relations with the administration of the time believed that the university’s actions were retribution for Professor Thorpe’s outspoken criticism of the Board and administration, in the press and elsewhere, and his active participation and support for three strikes ( two by the faculty union and one by the Staff association).

The committee, in its final remarks agrees. They say, “There is little doubt in our minds that the central issue in the Thorpe case is one of academic freedom. Academic freedom, accepted in all secular Canadian universities as essential to the creative life of the university includes, but is not limited to, the right of academics to criticize the running of the institution.”

The Faculty Association regrets the Board of Regents’ failure to resolve this issue and compensate Professor Thorpe for lost employment and damage to his reputation, and it believes that the Regents have done a disservice to the university.

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CONTACT PERSON: Dr. Rick Hudson,

Vice-President, Mount Allison Faculty Association

Ph: 506-364-2331

MAFA Office: 506-364-2289

PO Box 6314 Sackville NB E4L 1G6 tel:(506) 364-2289 fax: (506) 364-2288, [email protected]

(Sackville, NB) – Mount Allison students will pay more for tuition next year, but not because of faculty and staff salary increases, says Dr. Robert Rosebrugh, President of Mount Allison Faculty Association.

Mr. David Stewart Mount Allison’s Vice-President Administration was quoted recently in the Moncton Times & Transcript as saying, “one reason for the hikes is the outcome of the Faculty Association settlements.”

In fact, five years ago (in 1995-96) the university budgeted $18.2 million for faculty and staff salaries/benefits (39% of its budget was for faculty salaries) and this year it is budgeting $18.5 million for total salaries (37% of its budget for faculty salaries).

Meanwhile student tuition fees have increased by 45% from $3,040 in 1995-96 to $4,390 in 2000-01 for a total revenue increase of $3.6 million, about twelve times the increase in the total salary budget.

Dr. Rosebrugh points out that other Canadian universities of similar size to Mount Allison pay higher faculty and staff salaries, but charge lower tuition fees.

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For more information contact:

Dr. Robert Rosebrugh, President:

• (506) 364-2289 (office)
• (506) 536-0906 (res.)

PO Box 6314 Sackville NB E4L 1G6 tel:(506) 364-2289 fax: (506) 364-2288

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA 9 e-mail: [email protected]

(Sackville, NB) – The 26-day strike in January and February of this year by the Mount Allison Faculty Association ended in a mediated settlement on Feb. 15. Still at issue was the salary remuneration for professors and librarians while on sabbatical leave. The employer had earlier agreed to pay 90 per cent of a faculty member’s salary while on sabbatical leave in the second and third years of the collective agreement but later changed its mind and wished to maintain the status quo where faculty are paid at the rate of 85 per cent of their salary.

Under the terms of the mediated settlement by Mr. Douglas Stanley, any outstanding issues were to be subjected to binding arbitration. The issue of sabbatical salaries was heard by an arbitration board on March 31,1999. The Board, which reported on June 29, 1999, found in the faculty association’s favour.

The decision in effect stated that if the parties at the table have agreed to a matter, then it takes the concurrence of both parties to change the proposal. One party cannot unilaterally change its mind as the employer did at the table.

MAFA sides-person’s was Dr. Jon Thompson, a Mathematics professor from UNB, the employer’s sides-person was Mr. Gary Sudel from the Irving Group’s Human Resources Department, and Mr. Peter T. Zed, a barrister at Barry & O’Neil was the chair. Mr. Sudel indicated he would have a dissenting report but it was still not available. The chair agreed to release the majority report and circulate the minority report to the parties, when received.

The effect of the decision is that professors and librarians will be paid 90% of their salary while on sabbatical leave in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. The decision is also significant for MAFA in that this is the second arbitration emanating from the strike that MAFA has won. The third arbitration on salaries in the second and third years of the collective agreement is upcoming.

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For more information:

George De Benedetti, President:

• (506) 364-2327 (office)
• (506) 536-2396 (res.)

Roger Wehrell, Chief Negotiator:

• (506) 364-2329 (office)
• (506) 536-2470 (res.)

PO Box 6314 Sackville NB E4L 1G6 tel:(506) 364-2289 fax: (506) 364-2288

9 http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA 9 e-mail: [email protected]

(Sackville, NB) — Dr. Charles H. Scobie, a retired and distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Allison, has refused to accept an appointment as Professor Emeritus recently made by the Board of Regents. He was to have been honoured at the upcoming May 10 Convocation at Mount Allison University.

Dr. Scobie, is protesting the action of the Administration and the Board of Regents at Mount Allison who took the unprecedented step of refusing to grant Professor Michael Thorpe the honorary title of Professor Emeritus, despite the Senate twice recommending it. Professor Thorpe, who retired from Mount Allison in 1997 after 23 years, has attributed the Board of Regents’ opposition to his very public criticisms of President Ian Newbould’s administration. Eighty past and current members of the university faculty signed a petition last spring in support of Professor Thorpe. The Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers have launched an investigation of the matter.

George De Benedetti, President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association, says “Dr. Scobie is a man of honour and integrity, and his actions in support of academic freedom are applauded by the faculty at Mount Allison. Many faculty members will join Dr. Scobie in not attending convocation.”

Dr. Scobie, who has the deepest respect of the faculty, is a former head of the Religious Studies Department, a former Dean of Arts, and a former member of the Board of Regents at Mount Allison. Prior to his retirement at Mount Allison in 1998, he received the Tucker Prize for outstanding teaching.

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For more information contact:

Prof. George De Benedetti, President
Mount Allison Faculty Association
P.O. Box 6314, Sackville NB, E4L 1G6
(506) 364-2289
(506) 536-2396 (Home)
FAX (506) 364-2288
[email protected]
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA

CAUT Bulletin Article Published March 8, 1999

The Strike That Should Not Have Happened

Members of the Mount Allison Faculty Association ended their twenty-six-day strike on February 15, as a result of a mediated settlement. New Brunswick’s Minister of Labour had appointed Mr. Douglas Stanley, a nationally renowned mediator and former Deputy-Minister of Labour in New Brunswick, as a special mediator in the dispute on February 8. Although, he had no authority to impose a settlement, the government mandated him to try to bring the parties to a resolution and to submit a report to the Minister of Labour, which was to be copied to the parties.

The mediation session which lasted through February 10-12 did not produce a settlement at the table. However, the parties did settle on the issue of giving departments a vote on the creation of part-time and instructor positions, an issue which MAFA sought, in exchange for MAFA’s relinquishing its demand of a 16 percent limit on credit courses taught by non-bargaining unit persons. What remained outstanding by Friday, February 12, was the matter of how to deal with the issue of an administrator on the Tenure and Promotion Committee against whom a candidate for tenure or promotion alleged bias, and the issue of salaries.

In his report to the Minister of Labour on February 12, Mr. Stanley recommended what he saw as a settlement of the outstanding issues to the Minister. The Mediator recommended a three-year agreement, that the Faculty Association’s position on the issue of bias be accepted, that the Employer’s salary scale for the first year be accepted on condition that the salary scales for the remaining two years be negotiated in June 1999, and if the parties could not agree by July 1, that the matter be arbitrated, and further recommended that a back-to-work protocol be negotiated before striking members returned to work. On Saturday, February 13, MAFA members endorsed the report, as did members of the Board of Regents. On Sunday, February 14, the parties were to negotiate a back-to-work protocol.

When the Employer team came to the table on Sunday, they declared, in spite of their having accepted the terms of the Stanley report, that they would not negotiate a protocol. Simultaneously, the Employer’s media relations department had announced on their web page and through media releases that faculty members and librarians would be returning to work at 8:30 a.m. Monday, February 15. After approximately eight hours of negotiations by telephone on Sunday between the Department of Labour and the parties, an entente was reached by which the Faculty Association would propose to its striking members on Monday morning for approval that they return to work that afternoon, that Mr. Stanley would be recalled for mediation/arbitration on Wednesday February 16, and that if a back-work-protocol could not be negotiated by 6:00 p.m. on the 16th, that Mr. Stanley would arbitrate the outstanding issues based on final offer selection. MAFA members accepted to return to work sooner rather than later because of the safeguard of compulsory binding arbitration at the end of the negotiating process on Wednesday.

A back-to-work protocol was negotiated on Wednesday except for the “signing bonus” which ultimately had to be arbitrated. The arbitrator found in MAFA’s favour. All members of the bargaining unit would receive a special research grant of $1,800 with a cash-out feature of a maximum of $500 on each June 30 of the collective agreement. This award was given in partial recognition of the extra work striking members would have through an extended teaching term for the 1998-99 academic year and for the subsequent encroachment on their research time.

In their written summation to the arbitrator on the issue of final offer selection on the “signing bonus,” the Employer suggested the arbitrator could be changing the terms and conditions of employment of the new collective agreement by accepting either ‘signing-bonus’ proposal. This was effectively putting the arbitrator and MAFA on notice that the Administration might subsequently mount a court challenge. “We hope that common sense would prevail among the Board of Regents that they would accept an arbitrated settlement to which its Administration was a willing party prior to the arbitration,” said George De Benedetti, President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association.

MAFA members had declared well before the start of the strike that they would accept binding arbitration to settle the outstanding issues. The Administration had refused the notion of binding arbitration on the grounds that they could not allow an outside party to determine salaries for fear that an arbitrator would impose a settlement that would jeopardize the future financial well-being of the University. By having accepted the Stanley report of February 12, the Employer did in fact accept binding arbitration to settle salaries for the remaining two years of the collective agreement. “In this respect, they could have avoided the strike had the Employer accepted the principle of binding arbitration before the strike, as was asked of them by MAFA, students, and the public,” said George De Benedetti.

The strike has ended but the conflict continues. The Employer team had agreed at the table to increase sabbatical salaries from 85 percent to 90 percent to which it now denies. MAFA will subject the matter to arbitration, and might also launch an unfair labour practice before the New Brunswick Industrial Relations Board.

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For more information contact:

Prof. George De Benedetti, President
Mount Allison Faculty Association
P.O. Box 6314, Sackville, New Brunswick, E4L 1G6
(506) 364-2289
Fax (506) 364-2288
[email protected]
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA

(Sackville, NB) — Midway through the third week of the faculty strike at Mount Allison University, the Administration still declines to move from its salary offer.

Over the weekend the two sides had talks about mechanisms to resolve the dispute. On Friday, February 5, the Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) proposed that the two sides engage and jointly pay for a private sector professional mediator. Such mediators have a high success rate in resolving disputes.

On Saturday, February 6, the Administration refused the proposal and stated an interest in using an Industrial Inquiry Commission which the Minister of Labour can establish under the Industrial Relations Act. Such a Commission was established during the Irving Refinery Strike in 1995. Usually an Industrial Inquiry Commission investigates the broader causes of industrial disputes and makes non-binding recommendations to end a dispute.

MAFA has submitted a brief to the Ministry of Labour on the usefulness of a Commission in the current dispute [attached]. MAFA continues to advocate binding arbitration as the best means to end the current dispute, and offers to return to the classroom immediately, if the Minister of Labour imposes a mechanism which provides for binding arbitration.

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For more information contact:

Prof. George De Benedetti, President
Mount Allison Faculty Association Strike Headquarters
47 Main Street, Sackville NB
(506) 536-2968 (strike headquarters)
(506) 536-2396 (Home)
FAX (506) 536-0200
[email protected]
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA

(Sackville, NB) — Senator Mabel M. DeWare today called on the administration of Mount Allison University to step up its efforts to resolve the faculty strike now entering its third week.

“I wish to express my concern about the disruption of classes at Mount Allison University because of a collective bargaining dispute,” Senator DeWare wrote in her letter to Mount Allison president Ian Newbould and David Stewart, chief negotiator with the administration. “Clearly, in order to salvage the students’ academic year, the labour issues in dispute must be resolved as soon as possible.”

Mount Allison, Canada’s premier undergraduate university, ranks near the bottom of similar universities in terms of faculty pay. Striking faculty members are worried that poor pay scales will hurt the quality of education at the university.

“Senator DeWare’s letter to the administration today reinforces our call for a quick resolution of the strike through binding arbitration,” said George De Benedetti, president of the Mount Allison Faculty Association. “We’re ready to return the bargaining table and be flexible as soon as the administration’s chief negotiator’s hands are freed.”

The Mount Allison Faculty Association went on strike January 21, the third labour disruption at the university in 7 years.

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For more information contact:

Prof. George De Benedetti, President
Mount Allison Faculty Association Strike Headquarters
47 Main Street, Sackville NB
(506) 536-2968 (strike headquarters)
(506) 536-2396 (Home)
FAX (506) 536-0200
[email protected]
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA

The Mount Allison Faculty Association will suspend picketing from 1:30 to 3:00 PM tomorrow (February 2). This suspension is to mark the funeral of Mr. John Wilson, a retired member of the Board of Regents of Mount Allison University. Mr. Wilson, former head of Atlantic Industries in Dorchester, N.B. was a long-time member of the Board and served Mount Allison faithfully for several years. MAFA President George De Benedetti commented that the suspension of picketing was “out of respect for Mr. Wilson and consideration for his family. MAFA members extend sincere condolences to members of the Wilson family”. Picketing, currently in its 12th day, will resume after Mr. Wilson’s funeral.

For more information contact:

Prof. George De Benedetti, President
Mount Allison Faculty Association
(506) 536-2968 (strike headquarters)
(506) 536-2396 (Home)
FAX (506) 536-0200
email: [email protected]
Website: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA