Library Remains Open Despite
Strike in Newfoundland
Librarians, professors, and counselors at Memorial University of Newfoundland went on strike October 31, and classes were immediately canceled for the university’s 16,000 students, the Canadian Press reported.
Picket lines went up at entrances to the university’s campuses in St. John’s and Corner Brook after an all-night bargaining session failed to produce an agreement. Talks were continuing between the administration and representatives of the 765-member Faculty Association.
The university’s Queen Elizabeth II Library remained open during the strike despite the absence of about 35 members of the Faculty Association. “The main effects of the strike are that there is no reference service and all bibliographic instruction has ceased,” library director Richard H. Ellis told American Libraries. The university’s technical and support staff are in a separate union, he said, which has signed a new contract with the university.
Faculty Association leader Noel Roy praised the university’s latest wage offer-which contained an average increase of more than 20.6% to all faculty over three years-but took issue with the fact that faculty with doctorates would receive larger increases than those without. Pensions and workload are also at issue, the St. John’s Telegram reported November 3.
Posted November 6, 2000.
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