Mount Allison Faculty Association
Very sorry to hear of this development at MAFA after 7 long months of frustrating bargaining. Stand strong, you have CAUT members strength behind you!
WUFA be sending a donation cheque to MAFA help with expenses as you hold the line.
On behalf of the Windsor Faculty Association and president Peter Zimmerman,
Debbie Noble, Administrative Officer
AUNBT has contacted MAFA to express support and solidarity in the struggle to reach a fair collective agreement. We are sending $5,000 for the first week, and $1,000 per each additional week of job action.
These are vital issues to us all, and thanks to MAFA for taking up this struggle. The DFA is sending a $2,000 cheque today to support MAFA. Our best wishes for a speedy and satisfactory resolution.
Your struggle is our struggle. UWOFA is there to support you. We are sending your association a cheque to $1000. in support of your members.
MAFA colleagues can count on the total support of the FNBFA as they are exercising their rightful strike mandate.
Les collègues de la MAFA peuvent compter sur le soutien total de la FAPPUNB dans l’exercice de leur droit de grève légitime.
MAFA first day picket
MAFA first day picket
Media Release · For Immediate Release · February 3, 2020
Sackville, NB – At 8:30 this morning full-time and part-time faculty and librarians set up picket lines after seven frustrating months of trying to negotiate new full-time and part-time collective agreements.
“Our negotiating team has been doing its best, but the administration is refusing to address the legitimate concerns of our membership,” says Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) President Matthew Litvak.
A strike deadline of 12.01 am on Monday morning came and went following the administration’s tabling of a take-it or leave-it offer on Saturday morning. In recent strike votes full-time faculty and librarians voted 74% in favour of a strike while part-time faculty voted 93% in favour this past Thursday and Friday.
“This round of negotiation is about protecting the quality of the education that we offer at Mount Allison,” says Litvak. “Our working conditions are students’ learning conditions.”
He said that the key issues are job security and compensation for part-time faculty, academic resources and workload, disability accommodation, and administration demands for concessions bearing on tenure, promotion and sabbatical processes.
“This can only be settled at the bargaining table,” Litvak says. While no new talks are scheduled, Litvak says he expects that the two sides will be meeting soon with the assistance of the provincially-appointed mediator.
MAFA represents approximately 150 full-time and 60 part-time faculty and librarians, and has been in negotiations since early June 2019.
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Media Release · For Immediate Release · January 31, 2020
(Sackville, NB) — The majority of part-time members of the Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) have voted in favour of strike action “if necessary” in response to a lack of progress in collective bargaining.
Those who cast ballots were 93% in favour of the motion. The vote was conducted under the rules established by the NB Industrial Relations Act.
Matt Litvak, MAFA President, said, “We are extremely pleased with this level of support from our part-time members. In the event of a strike, they will join the Full-time unit which has already voted in favour of job action. We hope that this show of resolve will provide additional incentive for the Employer to negotiate with MAFA to address the concerns of our part-time members.” The MAFA negotiating team is ready to continue meeting with the Employer over the weekend. MAFA has served notice of part-time job action effective at 12:01 on Monday February 3, 2020 in the event that a deal is not reached at the table.
The main issues under negotiation in this round include resources to support the academic mission of the university, faculty and librarian staffing, workload, equity and human rights – including non-discriminatory workplace accommodation for persons with disabilities – and compensation and benefits for full-time and part-time members.
Full-time and part-time faculty and librarians have been working without a contract since July 1, 2019. Negotiations began in June; conciliation began in August with a provincially appointed Conciliation Officer and concluded in November. The two sides have been talking since December with the assistance of a provincially appointed mediator. MAFA represents approximately 150 full time and 60 part-time faculty and librarians.
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Media Release · For Immediate Release · January 28, 2020
(Sackville, NB) — The Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) has announced that it has set a strike deadline for 12:01 am, Monday, February 3rd, unless new collective agreements are reached by that time.
As of today this strike deadline applies only to the full-time unit of faculty and librarians at Mount Allison.
“The Employer has raised objections regarding MAFA’s part-time voters list used in the strike vote, and in the interests of avoiding a time-consuming and costly legal battle MAFA has decided to hold another part-time strike vote with an expanded member’s list,” says MAFA President Matt Litvak. He said that the part-time group is strongly opposed to the Employer’s unwillingness to address members’ legitimate concerns and he expects this will come through in the upcoming vote.
The main issues under negotiation in this round include resources to support the academic mission of the university, faculty and librarian staffing, workload, equity and human rights – including non-discriminatory workplace accommodation for persons with disabilities – and compensation, benefits and job security for full-time and part-time members.
Full-time and part-time faculty and librarians have been working without a contract since July 1, 2019. Negotiations began in June; conciliation began in August with a provincially appointed Conciliation Officer and concluded in November. The two sides have been talking since December with the assistance of a provincially appointed mediator.
MAFA’s full-time unit has close to 150 members and MAFA also has a part-time unit of over fifty members that teaches on a per-course basis.
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For more information contact: