Union cites wages and workload as main issues
The University of New Brunswick’s academic staff has set a strike deadline.
Negotiations between the university and its professors are expected to continue after the leadership of the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers (AUNBT) voted unanimously for a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m., January 13.
Their contract expired June 30 and the union has been in contract negotiations since last spring.
A temporary truce to prevent a strike over the holidays expired on Jan. 2 and ninety per cent of the AUNBT voted in favour or a strike on Dec. 4.
The union cites wages and workload as its main issues.
“I can name half a dozen departments at UNB that are having difficulty hiring because of our low starting salaries and our lack of support for new scholars,” said AUNBT president Miriam Jones in a press release.
“Every year UNB management presents us with a budget that indicates we are barely making ends meet. But you know what? While they have been shrinking the size of the faculty for a decade, saying they can’t afford to replace people who leave or retire, they have managed to hire twice as many non-academic staff.”
About 800 full-time and contract academic staff, researchers and librarians working in Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton and Bathurst are represented by AUNBT.
