Cherise Letson , Author at The Argosy

No confidence in UNB administration

Cherise Letson — Sat, 10 May 2014 00:58:33 +0000

FREDERICTON (CUP) — Like Mount Allison University’s Faculty Council, a number of separate faculties at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) have recently passed motions of non-confidence in their senior administration.

Over the past couple weeks, four faculties at UNB—science, engineering, arts and business—have been passing non-confidence motions against UNB’s senior administration, meaning president Eddy Campbell and the vice-presidents. The education faculty also passed a motion, however, it doesn’t exactly state non-confidence, but still echoes the similar concerns as the others.

The faculties argue there is a lack of transparency with UNB’s financial planning. With academic departments receiving $1.2 million in cuts, they fear the university has strayed away from its core academic mission, leading to concerns for its future.

“There is no transparency in that budget process at all. And it doesn’t appear to us that it’s based on any kind of academic objectives,” said Cliff Shaw, chair of earth sciences and member of the UNB academic council. “It doesn’t meet the needs of the academic units and if it doesn’t meet the needs of those units, it doesn’t meet the needs of the students.”

UNB’s English department chair Jennifer Andrews said UNB’s faculties can’t handle more cuts.

“It becomes very clear that departments are at the point where they are on the brink of losing accreditation, losing the abilities to deliver certain key programs, whether it be graduate or undergraduate programs, and the ability to serve students in the meaningful way,” Andrews said.

UNB president Eddy Campbell said in the statement on Friday, April 3, that he understands faculties’ frustrations and the university is working to address them.

“We understand some members of our faculty are frustrated right now, and we sincerely want to work with them to address their concerns. They have provided us with questions. We have already provided some responses and we will be sharing more information soon,” Campbell said.

“We are committed to providing more information about the decisions we make and why we make them. This is an investment in the future of UNB.”

Non-confidence motions are not binding at UNB, meaning the senior administration doesn’t need to act upon them. However, the faculties hope that their motions will bring a change of direction for the university. Shaw said it’s something UNB’s Board of Governors will need to address eventually.

“I think that’s ultimately what we’re trying to do, to bring the attention of the Board of Governors to the problems we are facing in the university,” he said. “And that these problems we don’t feel our current senior administration are addressing, or are even capable of addressing.”

Shaw said these motions are unrelated to January’s strike. Professors’ union AUNBT has had no involvement in the passing of these motions.

“These are a result of long-standing issues that the [faculty] chairs and other faculty had with the way the university is administered,” he said. “And as we’ve started digging further into the finances of the university, we’re discovering more and more things that make us question whether or not they have the best interest of UNB’s academic programs at heart.”

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Back to bargaining

Cherise Letson — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 19:03:06 +0000

FREDERICTON (CUP) — The University of New Brunswick and its professors are heading back to the negotiating table—because the government is telling them to.

Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Jody Carr announced Monday that the provincial government is directing the university and its professors back to the negotiating table under a provision in the Industrial Relations Act. Both parties will be working with a special external mediator appointed by the province.

The mediator—Brian Keller, an expert in labour law—will be meeting with the parties on Wednesday and Thursday.

“This appointment obliges the parties to return to the table, and underscores the new level of urgency to the process,” Carr said.

“This intervention demonstrates that the provincial government is actively trying to help the parties without interfering in, and respecting the collective bargaining process.”

Carr didn’t comment on what would happen if both parties don’t reach an agreement after this week, but said back-to-work legislation would be a last resort.

“Our focus for this week is to give both parties an opportunity to find the solution at the table,” he said. “As for next steps and into the next weeks, that will be for another day.”

As for the situation with nursing students, Carr said they are hopeful nurses will be able to complete their clinical hours by the end of February to complete their program.

“We’re still in that time frame and we’re hopeful as priority remains … that all students will not lose their term,” Carr said.

“We’re not certainly there yet. We’re still hopeful that nurses will be able to complete their clinical hours, though time is certainly pressing on.”

Mount Allison University’s faculty also went on strike Monday, making it two New Brunswick universities with a faculty strike. Carr said Mount Allison’s strike is being treated as a separate case.

“Each situation is unique. Certainly we will monitor the Mount Allison situation and provide support under the Industrial Relations Act,” Carr said.

“We encourage for both parties to find the resolution for their situations and we’re hoping it will be with the most minimal impact for students.”

UNB Student Union president Ben Whitney said the announcement was welcome news.

“Any way that we can get them back to the table to get a hopefully fairly negotiated collective agreement is good,” Whitney said.

Though still worried for students, he said he supports anything that will get them back to class.

“I’ve been worried since day one about that,” he said. “But at the end of the day our main goal is to get students back in class and any way we can do that is good.”

UNBSU vice-president external Greg Bailey said he’s glad the government is stepping up to the plate.

“Right now for students, I guess it’s nice to know that we’re not alone. Last week we got out and protested the fact both sides were not back at the table. So it’s nice to know that government has our back.”

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UNB faculty on strike, locked out

Cherise Letson — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 19:03:17 +0000

FREDERICTON (CUP) — Full-time professors and librarians at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) are now on strike.

After months of meetings, UNB and its full-time faculty were unable to reach a collective agreement as of Sunday night. The Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers (AUNBT) set a strike deadline for 12:01 am Monday morning.

“For a long [time] it seemed like we were heading towards a strike, but it really did seem as though the last few days that [the university] was making an effort and they were back at the table,” said AUNBT president Miriam Jones.

“So I was really disappointed. I’m not sure why they were going through those motions and making the same financial offer they made . . . it was almost like they were daring us. It was really odd,” Jones said.

Picketing began at all UNB campuses Monday. Jones said negotiations will continue throughout the strike. However, there are no new meetings scheduled at this time.

She said there was nothing the union’s bargaining could have done to prevent the strike.

“I honestly think there was nothing our teams could have done. They were very patient, professional people with no walking out,” Jones said.

The university said in a release that they’re still committed to reaching a deal.

“UNB remains committed to achieving a new collective agreement that serves the broad interests of students and the university community and that improves the current contract with faculty,” the release read.

UNB Student Union (UNBSU) president Ben Whitney said that the UNBSU is disappointed with the news and are planning their next steps.

At the UNBSU’s council meeting Sunday night, a motion was passed for the UNBSU to remain neutral during the strike.

“We feel students will be best represented if we continue to work with both sides for a number of reasons,” Whitney said.

The UNBSU has been encouraging students not to pay tuition until the situation is resolved.

On Tuesday morning, UNB announced it was locking out faculty. UNB president Eddy Campbell said they decided to lock out the professors to avoid further complications, such as professors crossing the picket line.

“We just thought it’s clear we need to be able to say that ‘no full-time faculty are at work during this time,’” Campbell said.

“[I]t’s very unusual and New Brunswick seems to be the only province where administration seems fond of locking out their staff. They did it at St. Thomas a few years back and that didn’t go very well for the administration,” Jones said.

Both sides of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations between the Mount Allison Faculty Association (MAFA) and Mount Allison University have been closely following developments at UNB.

“We fully support our colleagues at UNB, and we wish them all the best in their attempt to resolve their differences with the administration,” said Loralea Michealis, President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association.

Michaelis noted that many of the issues viewed with concern by Mt. A faculty, such as, “a re-prioritization of buildings and administration over the academic mission” are also factors in the labour dispute at UNB. She said these trends have been apparent at universities across Canada.

Karen Grant, Mt. A’s Vice-President Academic and Research said, “we hope that they can reach a settlement, but my attention is primarily on [reaching] a settlement here.”

With files from Chris Balcom.

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