Three days to vote on BU deal

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This article was published 24/11/2011 (5408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Striking Brandon University professors will vote on whether to accept the university’s ‘final’ contract offer over three days next week, meaning classes could resume no earlier than Dec. 5.

The Manitoba Labour Board established the voting rules on Wednesday after meeting with representatives of the university’s administration and the Brandon University Faculty Association in Winnipeg.

The board became involved after Labour Minister Jennifer Howard took the unusual step of ordering faculty members on Monday to vote on the university’s latest offer “immediately.”

The protracted voting process the labour board laid out Wednesday sparked criticism from the Manitoba Conservatives. “When the government said ‘immediately,’ people would have interpreted that as meaning immediately, not spread over three days next week. It really is surprising and disappointing,” Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen said.

While most BU professors are based in the western Manitoba city, the university also has a Winnipeg campus that houses its School of Health Studies as well as satellite operations in northern Manitoba.

Winnipeg BUFA members will vote on the contract next Tuesday and Wednesday, while Brandon members will vote on Thursday. Northern and rural Manitoba members will cast a mail-in ballot that will be due on Dec. 2.

There is also no guarantee the 240 professors who have been on strike since Oct. 12 will accept the administration’s latest offer.

The union is angry the province is forcing them to vote on the BU offer when they would rather be bargaining. The two sides were close to an agreement on wages when talks broke off late last week but failed to agree on a back-to-work protocol.

“I can say that our membership are very uneasy with the fact that we are being forced into this without a clear back-to-work agreement,” said BUFA executive member Elisabeth MacDonald-Murray, when asked to assess the mood of the membership.

Howard’s decision Monday to force a faculty vote was greeted with dismay by organized labour and others on the political left who felt it undermined the collective bargaining process. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) also condemned the government’s action in a letter to Howard.

The NDP government, however, has been under increasing pressure to act, as the dispute threatens an entire term of studies for more than 3,000 students.

If the professors reject the university’s offer and talks do not resume, the university is likely to seek binding arbitration to settle the dispute. Under provincial labour law, BU won’t be in a position to do that until Dec. 10, 60 days after the strike began.

But even then there is no guarantee the walkout would be over quickly. The labour board would still have to determine whether the two sides have been bargaining in good faith and whether it is likely an agreement could be reached if bargaining continued for 30 days.

MacDonald-Murray said that’s why the union has been seeking a negotiated settlement.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca