Dear Per Course Instructors,
As you may have already heard or seen, Memorial has decided to publicly release its initial financial offer to LUMUN. Why would the University intentionally poison the well of relations with LUMUN when we appeared to be making progress, leading up to a scheduled meeting tomorrow morning, with this take it or leave it stance?
This message was sent just hours after we approached the university about meeting on Friday to present our counter proposal and is a gross mischaracterization of the University’s proposal. This communication is a continuation of blatant disrespect to LUMUN members and to the bargaining process.
It is an attempt to divide our membership as we near a strike vote and garner some public sympathy for their position. Our membership will not be divided, and the public is not fooled. Whatever their magic number may seem to be, it is still less than strike pay.
This message today was a power play. More importantly it is the surest sign we have had that the University is terrified that LUMUN members might vote to support a strike mandate.
Once again you can find the real facts about a strike vote here:
https://lumun.ca/2024/02/23/lumun-strike-facts-and-faqs/
Let’s go through what the University said. The Newspost item fails to mention several important aspects of the University’s proposals, and in so doing, grossly mischaracterized them.
Their wage proposals aren’t anything new, but were recycled from the MUNFA negotiations.
Unlike every other set of proposals exchanged since last April, what they gave us on 23 February was an “all-or-nothing package”, which means that it has to be accepted or rejected in its entirety. With such a package, anything not included in it would be considered withdrawn from negotiation should the package be accepted.
Their package didn’t include most of our outstanding language asks when it comes to providing better working conditions for us all when it comes to discipline and investigations. Any language that they no longer wished to negotiate was intentionally excluded from the package, which itself contained very little language, most of which involved minor changes to the collective agreement.
Their presentation thus signals a clear refusal on their part to continue negotiating language at the bargaining table.
The University’s message also states that they are proposing significant wage increases that will bring us to the average per-course rate for Atlantic Canada. But is that good enough? For context consider this: Were we to strike, all of our members would be making more on the picket line than they would earning this ‘average’ wage’.
Before now the University had insisted that finances couldn’t be discussed while language was still on the table and had refused to provide us with a financial proposal. The day after our Special Members’ Meeting, they contacted us to present a financial package, one that attempted to sweep most of the remaining language off of the table. Again, and as they have attempted to do throughout the entire bargaining process, this is an attempt to control what goes on at the table.
As you read the University’s Newsline item, please keep in mind what has been left out of it, namely its ‘all-or-nothing’ nature and most of the outstanding language issues, and recognise it for what it is: an exercise in power by attempting to sway the University community in their favour, and an attempt to divide our membership ahead of any strike vote. What’s more, they are attempting to frighten students even before a strike vote has been held.
The message states that PCIs are valued members of the University community. The University’s behaviour at the bargaining table, and before bargaining, would seem to suggest otherwise.
The only explanation for this message is that they are afraid of the outcome of a strike vote.
They are afraid that we will refuse what they are attempting to force on us. They are afraid of our collective power to achieve significant gains at the bargaining table. The last (3rd) collective agreement was secured only after a strike vote on the part of LUMUN Members showed high support for a strike.
In solidarity,
Your LUMUN Bargaining Team
Lecturers' Union of Memorial University 