Solidarity Statement from the Mount Allison Faculty Association

October 26, 2020

The members of the Mount Allison Faculty Association are mindful of the fact that we work on the unceded lands of the Mi’kmaw people and that the Treaties of Peace and Friendship are still in effect. We are appalled by the recent aggression of non-indigenous people against the Mi’kmaw community in Saulnierville, Nova Scotia, and the passivity of governments in response. We condemn the failure of the governments of Canada, both federal and provincial, that continue to refuse to implement indigenous rights established in the Treaties of Peace and Friendship and affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1999 Marshall decision among others. One of the most important things that governments must do, before anything else, is to respect and implement the rights that have been established through the due process of law. We call on the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia to take whatever steps are necessary to resolve this situation based on the fundamental principle that the starting point must be to satisfy the treaty rights of the Mi’kmaw people.

May 2020

Effective immediately, MAFA’s new full-time and part-time collective agreements are now public and are fully in force. They run until June 30, 2022. For more information, go to the following link:

https://mafamain.wpengine.com/collective-agreements/

Media Release                                                                        For Immediate Release

February 14, 2020

Mount Allison faculty ratify new collective agreements

Mount Allison faculty and librarians have voted 91% in favour of new part-time and full-time collective agreements in a February 10–12 ballot.

The new collective agreements run for three years retroactive to July 1, 2019.  The ratification vote followed a negotiated tentative settlement reached after a six-day strike of full- and part-time faculty and librarians at the university. Members of the Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) have been working without new collective agreements for seven months.

Notable changes in the new agreements include improvements in the language on accommodation of members with disabilities and greater job security for long-serving part-time faculty members.

Dr. Matt Litvak, MAFA President, noted that while progress was made there is still room for further improvement in these areas as well as in the areas of resources for the academic mission and workload. These were also in dispute during this round of bargaining.

“This is the second faculty and librarian strike in the past 6 years,” Litvak said. “The resistance that MAFA encountered during negotiations on basic issues of workplace justice and resources for the academic mission is difficult for us to explain. These issues are critical to the well being of the university and the quality of its academic programs,” he added.

MAFA represents around 150 full-time and 60 part-time members.

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For more information contact:

Dr. Matthew Litvak, President:          (506) 364-2289 (office)

[email protected]

MASU releases response to proposed changes to Sackville Hospital.

Media Release                                                For Immediate Release

February 8, 2020

Strike ends at Mount Allison University

Sackville –The six-day strike of full- and part-time faculty and librarians at Mount Allison University has ended with a negotiated settlement.

The Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) negotiating team met with the administration team throughout the day and night yesterday and late into the early hours of this morning.  “We are pleased to report that we have reached tentative agreements for full-time and part-time faculty and librarians,” says Matt Litvak, MAFA President.  “The strike is now over.”

Faculty and librarians will be returning to the campus and to their offices, labs and studios today. Classes will resume on Monday.

The strike began on Monday, February 3^rd, 2020.

Details of the tentative agreements will be shared with the membership early this week. A ratification vote will follow. Until then, no details of the tentative agreements will be released to the public.

Issues in dispute during the strike included accommodation for faculty and librarians with disabilities, job security and compensation for part-time faculty and librarians, workload, and resources for the academic mission.

“This was a challenging round of negotiations, but our striking members stayed strong and united in their determination to achieve a settlement at the bargaining table,” said Litvak.

“MAFA would like to extend our deepest thanks to our students, CUPE locals, the NB Federation of Labour, the Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Associations and faculty associations from across the country, including the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Defence Fund, for their moral and financial support.  We would like to give a special thanks to the flying and driving pickets who braved the inclement weather to join our rally yesterday.”

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For more information contact:

Dr. Matthew Litvak, President:          (506) 364-2289 (office)

[email protected]

Solidarity Forever

written by Ralph Chaplin; made famous by Pete Seeger
additional MAFA verses by Harold Engels
to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic

When the union’s inspiration through the workers’ blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yes, what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.

CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.

It was back in twenty-fourteen, only six short years ago
That the faculty were walking on the pickets in the snow
They refuse again to bargain, and on strike again we go
And the Union makes us strong.

CHORUS

We fight for part time faculty, their job security
For the treatment of our colleagues with a disability
And that everyone is treated with respect and dignity
And the Union makes us strong.

CHORUS

If the other side were willing to negotiate at all
Then this could have been averted; we’d have settled in the fall
They can issue ultimatums, they can endlessly stonewall
But the Union makes us strong.

CHORUS