Faculty Association makes annual holiday season donations

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December 21, 2018

Media Release

The Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) has announced its 2018 donations to local charities.

“Every year the Mount Allison Faculty Association makes donations to local charities and organizations, as a way of supporting the good work going on in and around Sackville,” says MAFA President Jeff Lilburn.

This holiday season MAFA is donating $6000 to a record twenty groups supporting our community. Earlier in the year, MAFA donated $3100 in support of a Mount Allison refugee student through World University Services of Canada.

Local organizations receiving support include the Alzheimer Society of New Brunswick; Autumn House; Atlantic Wildlife Institute; Cumberland Health Care Foundation; Live Bait Theatre; New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity; New Brunswick Community Land Trust; New Brunswick Refugee Clinic; Sackville Community Association – Christmas Cheer; Sackville Memorial Hospital Foundation; Sackville Music Festival; Sackville Public Library; Sackville Refugee Response Coalition; Sackville Schools 2020; Sistema NB Moncton Youth Orchestra; Tantramar Adult Learning Centre; Tantramar Family Resource Centre; Tantramar Heritage Trust; Tantramar Hospice Palliative Care Organization and York Street Children’s Centre.

“As is often the case our members decided to support a mix of organizations that provide help to those in need, as well as educational and cultural initiatives in the local and regional communities,” Lilburn says. “We know that these times are challenging for many people and organizations, and we are pleased to support seventeen organizations this year,” he says.

MAFA is the bargaining agent for 190 full- and part-time professors and librarians at Mount Allison University.

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For more information, call Geoff Martin, (506) 364-2289.

December 2018 Executive Newsletter

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In this newsletter …. (available at the link below)

  • President’s Report
  • Update on Employment rights of Full-time Academic Staff elected to the Board of Regents
  • Collective Bargaining Report
  • Report from CAUT Aboriginal Academic Staff Conference
  • Grievance Report
  • Joint Liaison Report
  • Precarious Work on the Rise at Canadian Universities
  • Coming Events

Newsletter December 2018

September 2018 Executive Newsletter

Posted by & filed under News.

In this newsletter …. (available at the link below)

  • President’s Report
  • The Current State of Mount Allison’s Full- and Part-time Academic Complements
  • Collective Bargaining Report
  • Grievance Report
  • De Benedetti Prize Awarded for 18th Year
  • Significant Arbitration Decision on use of Student Questionnaires for Teaching Evaluation
  • Do you want to go Paperless?
  • Joint Liaison Report
  • CAUT Spring Council and ACCFA General Meeting
  • Coming Events

Newsletter September 2018

March 2018 Executive Newsletter

Posted by & filed under News.

In this newsletter …. (available at the link below)

  • President’s Report
  • Grievance Report
  • Information Session about the new Career Development Review process
  • Students are not Mount Allison’s Customers
  • Joint Liaison Report
  • Important Changes to Timing of Events in the new Full-time Collective Agreement
  • Coming Events

Newsletter March 2018

Faculty Association expresses concern over university’s Presidential Search Process

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November 21, 2017

On behalf of its 200 members, the Mount Allison University Faculty Association is calling on the university’s Board of Regents to affirm that its current search for a new university President will be an open one.

“For as long as anyone can remember, Mount Allison has hired a new President through an open process which includes on-site, public visits by the short-listed candidates,” says MAFA President Jeff Lilburn. “Despite our efforts to ensure that this openness continues, we have not received a ‘yes’,” he says.

Lilburn says that universities as public institutions have always recognized that they are not supposed to be run like private corporations. “The University receives public funding and the Board of Regents has special obligations to the university’s constituents, which includes academic and support staff, students, alumni and the general public,” he says.

He also notes that there is widespread acceptance in Canadian universities that administrators and academic staff– whether they are currently a department head, dean or university vice-president – will apply for higher-level jobs  at other institutions and that to do so is not disloyal to their current institution.

“It is understood that university presidents generally come from other universities and it is also accepted that a president cannot be effective unless they have the consent of the university community that they expect to lead,” he says.

An important step toward achieving this consent is to have open, on-campus visits, which allow the community to assess the candidates and make comments to the search committee.

“We appreciate that there is faculty, student and staff representation on the Board’s search committee, but they are a minority of the voices in the room and the only way the community can have an effect is to be able to comment on the suitability of the two or three finalists,” he says.

A new president is expected to start work at Mount Allison next July 1st, and it is the norm that the appointment will be announced in January. “Time is running out for meaningful consultation,” he says. “The Board is not doing a new president any favours if the community perceives that there have not been opportunities for its significant participation in the appointment process.”

MAFA is the exclusive bargaining agent for the 200 members of the university’s academic staff, which includes, full- and part-time professors, librarians and language instructors.

MAFA and Mount Allison ratify new collective agreements

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December 16, 2016

The Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) and Mount Allison University have ratified new collective agreements for both the full-time and part-time bargaining units.

“This was a productive round of negotiations,” said Andrew Irwin, MAFA President. Irwin said that the MAFA membership made some gains in both monetary and non-monetary items. The new collective agreements cover the period from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019. “We have been able to resolve some long-standing issues which bodes well for the future,” he says.

The agreement includes an average salary increase of 1.7% in each year for all members as well as improvements in compensation and benefits for part time members.

“On behalf of our membership and Executive I really want to thank our negotiation team, who put in many hours of hard work to finally come to this agreement,” Irwin says.

Negotiations were brought to a conclusion in late November and the two parties ratified the deal in early December. MAFA represents approximately 150 full-time and 50 part-time faculty and librarians.

October 2017 Executive Newsletter (Fair Employment Week)

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In this newsletter …. (available at the link below)

  • President’s Report, including MAFA Statement on Fair Employment Week
  • Four Members Receive Research and Creative Activity Stipends
  • Precarious and Poor: Adjunct and Part Time Professors
  • The Current State of Mount Allison’s Full- and Part-time Complements
  • Research and Creative Activity Fair Coming up on Friday, October 27th

Newsletter October 2017 (FEW)