AUNBT UNB negotiations for contract academic employees move to binding arbitration
Author: Communications
Posted on May 21, 2010
Category:
The University of New Brunswick and the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers have agreed to binding arbitration as they negotiate the final issues in reaching a first collective agreement for UNB’s nearly 550 contract academic instructors and librarians.
UNB and the AUNBT have agreed that the matter will be heard by a three-person arbitration panel. Andrew Sims of Edmonton has agreed to act as an arbitrator at the request of both parties. UNB and the AUNBT are in the process of confirming their other nominees. UNB and the AUNBT also recently announced their agreement to conclude negotiations for a new contract with UNB’s 600 full-time academic employees by treating an upcoming conciliation board report as binding. Andrew Sims is also the chair of the conciliation board.
While the contract academic instructors and librarians’ negotiations will be resolved through the arbitration process and the full-time academic employees’ negotiations will be resolved through the conciliation board process, each is being negotiated as a separate and distinct agreement. For each, the decision to treat the results as binding was approved by both the relevant AUNBT membership and UNB’s Board of Governors. Both agreements are expected to be finalized this summer.
These decisions allow UNB and the AUNBT to preserve their long record of constructive labour relations, with no interruption to teaching, research and community outreach. Both the AUNBT and the UNB administration continue to share the goal of supporting the communities around us and of making UNB a better place to study and work.
The AUNBT and UNB have agreed that all communication with the media regarding negotiations will be by way of joint statements at this time.
Contact:
Natalie Montgomery, Communication Officer (506) 453-4990