A three-week strike by members of the Mount Allison Faculty Association has ended, with key unresolved issues going to arbitration.
The 200 unionized academic staff returned to work Feb. 17 after the university administration and MAFA agreed to bring in an arbitrator under the Industrial Relations Act of New Brunswick to resolve the outstanding differences in contract negotiations.
Negotiations overseen earlier in the month by a provincially-appointed mediator had failed to produce any significant movement on issues. MAFA members have been working with a contract that expired June 30, 2013.
“We ran a good strike and our members remained together, but we faced an employer that was unwilling to negotiate,” said faculty association president Loralea Michaelis. “Now we will make our case in front of an arbitrator.”
The union’s issues include administrative control over teaching and research, workload and compensation. “We are fighting an erosion of fairness and collegial processes,” Michaelis said.