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UNBCFA say talks have stalled, university says it's doing due diligence

Tomorrow (Nov. 21) marks two weeks since faculty hit the picket lines
Jess Balzer
Jess Balzer
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CUPE members have joined the UNBCFA in a show of solidarity on the picket lines. (via Kyle Balzer)

It's not good news for university students. 

UNBC Faculty Association (UNBCFA) President Stephen Rader says in a release classes will continue to be empty because of stalled talks between the two sides, while the school says they are reviewing proposals with due diligence. 

Tomorrow (Nov. 21) will officially be two weeks since the faculty association hit the picket lines after a collective bargaining agreement was not reached between then UNBCFA and UNBC. 

Talks began Mar. 5, 2019, with the hopes of reaching a quick resolution. 

"We are extremely disappointed at the slow pace of bargaining, both prior to and during our work action," Rader said.

"On Oct. 9, the Employer requested mediation, which we believed was a genuine effort to reach consensus on a collective agreement between the Board of Governors and our members. But now we wonder whether this request was simply to slow the bargaining process."

The UNBCFA gave a 72-hour strike notice on Nov. 4 and hit the picket lines officially on the morning of Nov. 7.

"On Monday, the UNBCFA’s bargaining team tabled its seventh settlement offer and the Employer’s team informed them they would be responding sometime Tuesday after 9 a.m. On Tuesday afternoon, however, the Employer contacted us to say that they will not respond until Wednesday," added Rader. 

"It is unconscionable that the Employer continues to delay when our students are on the verge of losing a semester, some of them an entire year. Our team is available to negotiate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week because we understand the serious implications that any delay in bargaining causes for our students, staff and faculty. We implore the administration to work with us to get this resolved as quickly as possible. The university board, as our employer, is legally bound to ask President Weeks some tough questions about the delays and his responsibility for a second strike in back-to-back rounds of bargaining."

In a release sent out shortly after the UNBCFA's today (Nov. 20), UNBC responded saying the UNBCFA rejected their latest proposal on Monday and presented a new one of their own. 

The university says they spent most of Tuesday (Nov. 19) reviewing the proposal before sending it to the Public Sector Employer's Council Secretariat for assessment.

But they now say, there seems to be a few fundamental misunderstanding. 

"The first seems to be that the compensation matter has been agreed upon," the university says. 

"Both teams know that the funding envelope must fall within the province’s mandate, there is a disconnect regarding the compensation structure, how that funding is spread across the membership, and the long-term financial implications of that structure. For more than a year, a joint working group comprised of FA and Employer representatives developed principles and benchmarks that would lead to a much-needed adjustment to the salary structure for Tenured and Tenure-track faculty. As a result, that is why the Employer has continued to refine its proposals that are built upon the shared principles between the FA and the Employer that emerged from that working group. Most importantly, that the salary structure ultimately supports the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty."

The school goes onto say the second misunderstanding is the amount of time needed to review and cost each different proposal they have received. 

"Due diligence includes tracking each article in detail so both parties know if words have been deleted or inserted," the statement continued. "This means the Employer’s team has an obligation to review each word carefully and thoroughly, as changes to words can mean changes to the compensation envelope."

They say the last point to consider is all of the work must be reviewed and approved by the PESC Secretariat. 

"The Employer’s team is doing all it can to efficiently work through each proposal it receives. As always, the Employer remains committed to reaching a deal at the table," the statement concluded.