Students, Workers Bearing the Brunt of Underfunding, Says Union Amid MUN Layoffs

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is deeply concerned about further attacks to postsecondary education offerings in Newfoundland and Labrador. Following the news that Memorial University (MUN) is working with a budget deficit of $20M, university services have been eliminated, and workers have already been laid off.

“We are concerned about what this means for both workers at MUN, and for students,” says Bill Kavanagh, President of CUPE 1615.

Notably, at least some services performed by laid off CUPE members appear to have been handed off to other workers at MUN. The services of the writing centre, for example—which was closed after 40 years serving the St. John’s campus—have been merged with the Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

“The university has stated that they value the work our members do and what we bring to MUN,” continued Kavanagh. “But they have chosen to make unionized positions ‘redundant’ and give that work to non-unionized workers, who don’t have the protections of a collective agreement.” CUPE 1615 represents Administrative, Instructional, Technical, and Technical Support Staff at the St. John’s, Signal Hill, Grenfell, and Labrador campuses. 45 staffing redundancies appear to be impacting the West coast Grenfell campus the most, indicating a possible trend towards further centralizing MUN offerings to campuses in St. John’s.

“It’s been months since we asked the province to step in and take action,” said Sherry Hillier, CUPE Newfoundland & Labrador President. “Now, hardworking people are losing their livelihoods, and Newfoundlanders are losing more of our only public post-secondary education institution. Does the Province think investing in our future is redundant?”

​​Also closed are the Harris Centre​ and the ​Office of Public Engagement​, despite MUN’s mission statement including a “dedication” to “service and public engagement”.

In May, the Province announced a pause to planned cuts to MUN’s public funding, but funding to MUN has decreased by almost half since 2013. A pause to further attacks is not enough. The Province must increase funding to MUN and work to reverse the damage done by over a decade of underfunding as it moves forward with its 10-year plan to improve public education, called the Education Accord NL.

“We’ve been saying this since the Education Accord was first announced at the start of last year,” continues Hillier. “And we said it again when the interim report came out at the start of this year. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador deserve an accessible, world-class public university. And that is not the direction our government is headed.”

CUPE 1615 is one of almost 20 unions and campus associations aligned in a coalition calling for increased public funding to MUN. The coalition’s campaign, #FundMUN, launched last August.

:so/cope491