CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Thu, February 2, 2023
Members of Memorial University's faculty association are back on the picket lines for the fourth day of strike action.
(Peter Cowan/CBC - image credit)
Peter Cowan/CBC
A day after a Memorial University nursing student said she and her classmates fear they won't graduate on time, amid a labour dispute between faculty and administration, the university said clinical placements will resume next week.
Fourth-year nursing students had their work-term placements come to a halt when members of MUN's faculty association walked off the job Monday.
Those students — 69 in total, according to the university — need to complete their work terms to graduate on time in May. Many, according to student Madison Bailey, already have jobs lined up upon graduating.
In a media release Thursday, MUN said clinical placements that were suspended when the strike began will resume Monday with supervision by administrative leadership and the already assigned per-course instructors, who aren't affected by the strike.
"We have been constantly monitoring the potential impact of pausing this clinical placement," said Neil Bose, interim provost and academic vice-president, in the release.
"As we approach the end of the first week of strike action by MUNFA, we have determined we will provide supervision to these students by non-union academic leadership. This is necessary in order to ensure that there is no further risk of a delay in providing nursing resources to the province's health-care system."
Ash Hossain, president of Memorial University's faculty association, said there are still some sticking points his union and its members are pushing for — one of which is job security for contract employees.
"Weirdly enough you can work as a contracted member at MUN for 10, 20 or 30 years and still have no job security, no conversion to full time," he said. "A lot of our members are like that."
Peter Cowan/CBC
But among the union's biggest demands is having a seat on the university's board of regents. The board makes decisions on property, revenue, business and other affairs, such as the appointment of the university's president.
But that move requires work at the provincial government level and an amendment to legislation to allow the faculty association to have a seat on the board.
Premier Andrew Furey said it's something his government "would commit to" but the amendment won't be an overnight solution.
In a media release Wednesday night, the faculty association said it welcomes Furey's comments.
But, the union continued, while MUN raised the prospect of being open to a faculty seat on the board "it misses the essence of collegial governance."
"Inclusion in academic decision-making requires a commitment from the university's administration and cannot simply be resolved with a legislative change from the province — and given the administration's response to MUNFA's requests at the bargaining table, there is no evidence that this commitment is forthcoming," the media release reads.
Hossain said Furey's comments are a good starting point but there's still a piece that's missing.
"Part of our collegial governance package was to insert a definition of collegial governance in the collective agreement, which administration said no to," he said.
"We are still waiting to hear from them. They have to be able to move on major issues for us to come back and sit and talk."
Peter Cowan/CBC
A day after a Memorial University nursing student said she and her classmates fear they won't graduate on time, amid a labour dispute between faculty and administration, the university said clinical placements will resume next week.
Fourth-year nursing students had their work-term placements come to a halt when members of MUN's faculty association walked off the job Monday.
Those students — 69 in total, according to the university — need to complete their work terms to graduate on time in May. Many, according to student Madison Bailey, already have jobs lined up upon graduating.
In a media release Thursday, MUN said clinical placements that were suspended when the strike began will resume Monday with supervision by administrative leadership and the already assigned per-course instructors, who aren't affected by the strike.
"We have been constantly monitoring the potential impact of pausing this clinical placement," said Neil Bose, interim provost and academic vice-president, in the release.
"As we approach the end of the first week of strike action by MUNFA, we have determined we will provide supervision to these students by non-union academic leadership. This is necessary in order to ensure that there is no further risk of a delay in providing nursing resources to the province's health-care system."
Ash Hossain, president of Memorial University's faculty association, said there are still some sticking points his union and its members are pushing for — one of which is job security for contract employees.
"Weirdly enough you can work as a contracted member at MUN for 10, 20 or 30 years and still have no job security, no conversion to full time," he said. "A lot of our members are like that."
Peter Cowan/CBC
But among the union's biggest demands is having a seat on the university's board of regents. The board makes decisions on property, revenue, business and other affairs, such as the appointment of the university's president.
But that move requires work at the provincial government level and an amendment to legislation to allow the faculty association to have a seat on the board.
Premier Andrew Furey said it's something his government "would commit to" but the amendment won't be an overnight solution.
In a media release Wednesday night, the faculty association said it welcomes Furey's comments.
But, the union continued, while MUN raised the prospect of being open to a faculty seat on the board "it misses the essence of collegial governance."
"Inclusion in academic decision-making requires a commitment from the university's administration and cannot simply be resolved with a legislative change from the province — and given the administration's response to MUNFA's requests at the bargaining table, there is no evidence that this commitment is forthcoming," the media release reads.
Hossain said Furey's comments are a good starting point but there's still a piece that's missing.
"Part of our collegial governance package was to insert a definition of collegial governance in the collective agreement, which administration said no to," he said.
"We are still waiting to hear from them. They have to be able to move on major issues for us to come back and sit and talk."
With classes and work terms cancelled, MUN nursing students worry about graduating on time
Wed, February 1, 2023
Memorial University nursing students are worried about graduating on time due to the labour dispute between university administration and its faculty association. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC - image credit)
Jeremy Eaton/CBC
A class of nursing students set to graduate in May is worried that won't happen because of a labour dispute between the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association and university administration.
Madison Bailey, a fourth-year nursing student in MUN's faculty of nursing, said her classes have all been cancelled, along with a work-term she's supposed to be completing, amid the strike. But the two other nursing schools in the province — the Centre for Nursing Studies, operated by Eastern Health, and the Western Regional School of Nursing in Corner Brook — remain unaffected.
"There's a stop to all of our courses and clinicals, which greatly affects my class in particular because we're in our … final semester of nursing," Bailey said Wednesday. "We're basically doing our work term right now but that's on pause."
CNS students on the same 12-week work term and unit as Bailey at the Health Sciences Centre are continuing with their education while Bailey and her classmates stand on the picket line in support of their striking instructors.
She said it's a stressful situation and students are trying to figure out a way to complete their work term, graduate on time and help with the province's nursing labour shortage.
"Right now there's a pause on 70 of us. That's 70 new graduate nurses. A lot of us are going to Eastern Health and places in Newfoundland [when we graduate]," Bailey said.
"We're all super-stressed out. That's the consensus between our whole, entire class. We don't know what's going to happen. There's been hardly any communication between us and administration."
Jeremy Eaton/CBC
Bailey said she and her classmates support the faculty association but want to see the strike end soon so they can move on with their education, get back on hospital unit floors and get the job experience they need by May.
"The three schools are supposed to be on the same curriculum. And we are, we're all getting the same education, the same degree at the end of the day, but we're being affected definitely the most by this," she said.
"There wasn't really a plan set up for us. What's going to happen to us? We still don't know, and it's been a couple of days. It could be a couple of days that this goes on, or it could be weeks. It could be even months and that could really affect us starting our jobs in May."
Bailey, like many of her classmates, already has a job lined up, with orientation scheduled for May 1.
Premier Andrew Furey says the provincial government is hoping for a quick resolution for students' sake.
"Just think about what these students have been through in the last three years. There's been nothing normal about their education," Furey said Tuesday.
"To have a labour dispute thrown into their degree training at this point is certainly problematic, and we would hope that both sides see that and both sides can be open to coming back to the table and have a speedy resolution to this."
If the issue of having representation on the university's board of regents is the sticking point, said Furey, that's something government "would commit to." But he added it's not an overnight solution.
"The MUN act is a very big piece of legislation. It's one that we would need multiple sources of input from but that would be a commitment that we would honour for sure," he said.
Wed, February 1, 2023
Memorial University nursing students are worried about graduating on time due to the labour dispute between university administration and its faculty association. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC - image credit)
Jeremy Eaton/CBC
A class of nursing students set to graduate in May is worried that won't happen because of a labour dispute between the Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association and university administration.
Madison Bailey, a fourth-year nursing student in MUN's faculty of nursing, said her classes have all been cancelled, along with a work-term she's supposed to be completing, amid the strike. But the two other nursing schools in the province — the Centre for Nursing Studies, operated by Eastern Health, and the Western Regional School of Nursing in Corner Brook — remain unaffected.
"There's a stop to all of our courses and clinicals, which greatly affects my class in particular because we're in our … final semester of nursing," Bailey said Wednesday. "We're basically doing our work term right now but that's on pause."
CNS students on the same 12-week work term and unit as Bailey at the Health Sciences Centre are continuing with their education while Bailey and her classmates stand on the picket line in support of their striking instructors.
She said it's a stressful situation and students are trying to figure out a way to complete their work term, graduate on time and help with the province's nursing labour shortage.
"Right now there's a pause on 70 of us. That's 70 new graduate nurses. A lot of us are going to Eastern Health and places in Newfoundland [when we graduate]," Bailey said.
"We're all super-stressed out. That's the consensus between our whole, entire class. We don't know what's going to happen. There's been hardly any communication between us and administration."
Jeremy Eaton/CBC
Bailey said she and her classmates support the faculty association but want to see the strike end soon so they can move on with their education, get back on hospital unit floors and get the job experience they need by May.
"The three schools are supposed to be on the same curriculum. And we are, we're all getting the same education, the same degree at the end of the day, but we're being affected definitely the most by this," she said.
"There wasn't really a plan set up for us. What's going to happen to us? We still don't know, and it's been a couple of days. It could be a couple of days that this goes on, or it could be weeks. It could be even months and that could really affect us starting our jobs in May."
Bailey, like many of her classmates, already has a job lined up, with orientation scheduled for May 1.
Premier Andrew Furey says the provincial government is hoping for a quick resolution for students' sake.
"Just think about what these students have been through in the last three years. There's been nothing normal about their education," Furey said Tuesday.
"To have a labour dispute thrown into their degree training at this point is certainly problematic, and we would hope that both sides see that and both sides can be open to coming back to the table and have a speedy resolution to this."
If the issue of having representation on the university's board of regents is the sticking point, said Furey, that's something government "would commit to." But he added it's not an overnight solution.
"The MUN act is a very big piece of legislation. It's one that we would need multiple sources of input from but that would be a commitment that we would honour for sure," he said.
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