MUNACA Back to Work?

NewsJacob Roberts — Published December 1, 2011

Out of work for exactly three months, the 1,700-member McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association appears set to get back to work.

After negotiations with the McGill conciliator over the weekend—“countless hours of negotiations,” according to a MUNACA blog post—the McGill administration and MUNACA have come to a tentative agreement with a recommendation for settlement from the conciliator.

According to the blog post, the conciliator’s recommendation will be brought to an upcoming ratification meeting, with the recommendation of acceptance from the MUNACA negotiation team.

“At the Ratification Meeting all details of the proposed settlement will be presented and discussed, and everyone will be given ample opportunity to ask questions. This will be followed by a Ratification Vote by secret ballot,” the post stated.

The agreement is for a five year contract, which MUNACA has been without since November 2010.

MUNACA President Kevin Whitaker is quoted in The Montreal Gazette as saying that the new agreement contains several of the main objectives that MUNACA was striking for and that it is “well over” the six per cent wage increase initially offered by McGill administration.

McGill Vice-Principal Administration and Finance Michael Di Grappa sent out an e-mail to McGill staff and students which was quoted in the McGill Daily.

The e-mail states that details of the agreement will be kept secret until after MUNACA members have been briefed at the ratification meeting.

According to the MUNACA blog, the strike isn’t quite over.

“Until an agreement is ratified and the back to work protocol has been agreed upon, the strike continues,” the post stated.

Whitaker is quoted on the MUNACA website saying that, “we are very proud of the mobilization by our membership and the work done by the negotiations team. Their efforts are what have brought us to this point in the process.”

There is no set date for the ratification meeting as of the time of publication.