An Open Letter from BUFA to Students and Their Families:

The Brandon University Faculty Association regrets deeply that a negotiated settlement to the labour dispute at Brandon University has not yet been achieved.  BUFA has bargained diligently toward a fair settlement that will serve the interests of the students of this institution, now and long into the future.

We realize the stress the strike is creating among students, their families, and the community. We receive messages from students and we live in the community – a community we are committed to for our 30+ year careers. We are neighbours and friends. It is very frustrating to be so full of energy and ideas but not be able to share them in the classroom.  Instead we walk around the edge of campus each day disconnected from teaching, research, and the students and staff we all know so well.

Some have expressed concern at BUFA’s resistance to submit to arbitration at this time.  BUFA has not taken this position lightly.  Arbitration represents a failure of negotiation.  Neither party will have agreed to whatever decision is imposed.  This raises problems of commitment to the outcome, and the likelihood that the still unresolved, underlying issue(s) will result in further failures of collective bargaining in the future.  More generally, sending a wide range of issues to arbitration sets a precedent of removing the incentive for the Employer to negotiate, instead simply pressing for arbitration in every round of bargaining with every union on campus.  Our right to free collective bargaining would be seriously compromised.  Arbitration is an alternative to collective bargaining, not a part of it.

This dispute has been about many things.  Unfortunately, the President of Brandon University has claimed that “the core of this dispute is about money.”  We beg to differ.  From the outset, for BUFA members, this struggle has been to preserve the integrity of the collegial working environment which defines academia.  The Employer sought to increase our teaching loads, which are already the highest in the country.  They sought to erode peer evaluation and replace it with managerial decree.  They resist basic job protection for long-serving sessional instructors.  They refuse to offer a fair salary package, instead insisting that they must abide by a ‘provincial mandate’ that Premier Greg Selinger has now confirmed never existed.

So far, this strike is the only tool that has yielded success in our resistance to many of the dramatic changes that would have compromised our ability to continue to excel as researchers and teachers.  The learning environment of our students has been utmost in our minds as we work toward a settlement that is fair to BUFA members, and will ensure that excellent scholars will want to come to and remain at Brandon University.  Our request for job protection for sessional instructors and for guaranteed leave replacements has one intention – to benefit students by preserving program integrity, allowing degrees to be completed on time, and ensuring that instruction is delivered by experienced teachers.

While money has not been a driving factor in the strike, it remains an outstanding issue.  Although the gap between BUFA and the Employer since the strike began has always been small, BUFA continued to drop our salary requests before and during conciliation and mediation. The Employer has adjusted their salary position only twice since April, 2011, with virtually no movement (0.15%) on scale increases during mediation.  They declared that “with no significant movement from the Union, the mediator decided that the mediation had reached an impasse.” The claim that mediation broke down because of a lack of movement from BUFA is simply untrue.

Nevertheless, the Employer claims that our salary request is unaffordable, and would require “significant unbudgeted additional cuts to programs and positions.”  Dr. Poff has now claimed in her November 7 communiqué that even the Employer’s own offer would involve “the permanent loss of faculty positions, fewer sessional offerings, and fewer choices for students” (our emphasis).  If true, this would be grossly irresponsible.  In fact, the evidence suggests this is not the case at all.  Based on the University’s own budget estimates for 2011-12 (http://www2.brandonu.ca/admin/budget1112/), we suggest that BUFA’s proposal is affordable.

The 2011-12 budget already proposes a 4.6% increase to the University’s Academic Salaries over last year.  We note that this was budgeted before the 5.4% increase to the provincial grant was known.  The revenue to fund this increase is considerably greater than what was originally anticipated.  Given the provincial grant increases, three years from now, the University will be running a $3.4 million surplus.  Permanent cuts seem unlikely.  These calculations are based solely on the University’s own budget documents cited above, adjusted for the now known provincial grant increases.  They exclude additional increases to tuition that have been approved by the province, and they exclude the very likely scenario of future reductions in the pension liability payments.  For comparison, after budgeting for a $58,047 deficit in 2010-11, the University realized a surplus exceeding $2 million.  At the May 14, 2011 Board of Governors' meeting a financial update for the 2010-11 budget year was presented, with the following statement:

"At March 31, 2011 100% of the budget year is complete. For management reporting purposes, the operating accounts of the University have a surplus of $1,332,165; Ancillary Services has a surplus of $790,170." (http://www2.brandonu.ca/administration/governors/minutes/)

There is no evidence that our financial position is unreasonable.  But our present salary position is.  We teach more and earn less than faculty at comparable institutions across Canada.

In sum, BUFA has been struggling for a negotiated settlement that is fair to members, which protects the collegial governance of the University, and ensures the best possible educational experience for our students.  When we return, we expect to work hard to complete the term, and to restore BU’s reputation through excellence in research and teaching, and community building.  We are committed to our University and to serving our community.

-BUFA Media Team