Daily Bulletin

McCourt to head faculty again

McCourt became president of the faculty association a year ago; he had previously been the association's salary chair. Salary issues continue to be important to the association, even though a two-year agreement reached last summer means there won't be salary negotiations going on this year. Says McCourt as part of his message in the most recent issue of the FAUW newsletter:

I have been telling those of you who have been wondering how the Salary Anomalies Fund established during the last set of salary negotiations is to be distributed, that the Provost, Dr. Jim Kalbfleisch, would at some point be distributing a set of guidelines to the Faculty Deans and Department Chairs. He has now informed me that he has issued a memorandum outlining the criteria that are to be used by the chairs and deans in recommending salary anomaly corrections. It should be kept in mind that the agreement specifically stated that the funds were being made available to correct faculty salary anomalies, "particularly those related to position in the salary structure relative to recent hires". The department chairs, in first instance, are being asked to identify individuals who they believe fall into this category, and they are being asked to propose corrections for consideration by the faculty deans and finally by the Vice President Academic, and Provost.

Nominations also closed last week for four seats on the FAUW board of directors. There are five candidates: Ray McLenaghan of applied mathematics, Alicja Muszynski of sociology, Bill Power of chemistry, Frank Reynolds of statistics and actuarial science, and Catherine Schryer of English. Ballots are being mailed to FAUW members, and must be returned by April 7, the day before the association's annual meeting.

The annual meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8, at 2:30 p.m. in Physics room 145.

National NDP leader speaks

McDonough's talk will start at 7:30 in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's, and represents this year's St. Jerome's University Graduates' Association Lecture. Past lecturers in the series include Gérard Pelletier, Stevie Cameron, David MacDonald, Bishop Remi De Roo, Peter Desbarats, Marc Lalonde, and Victor Malarek. The evening will include the lecture, a question period, and a reception. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

"Moving Canada forward, as a united nation, ready to meet the challenges of the new millennium, depends on preparing our children and youth for the future and providing for the health and social needs of Canadians," says McDonough. "For too many years, these priorities have been ignored by the federal government's and some provincial governments' almost exclusive preoccupation with fiscal restraint. Building a new national social consensus . . . can give millions of Canadians renewed hope for their futures, and for the strengthened unity of the country."

McDonough was born into left-wing politics -- her father, Lloyd Shaw, was the first national researcher for the CCF, forerunner of the NDP -- and earned a BA from Dalhousie University followed by a master's degree from the Maritime School of Social Work. Her work experience includes community development with the Nova Scotia Social Services department, social planning with the City of Halifax, teaching at the Maritime School, and policy research at the Institute of Public Affairs, now Henson College, in Halifax.

Elected leader of the Nova Scotia NDP in 1980, McDonough became the first woman in Canada to lead a major political party. Until 1984, she was the only New Democrat and only woman in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. She was re-elected in 1984, 1988, and 1993. In October 1995, at a national convention in Ottawa, McDonough was chosen as the fifth leader of the federal NDP. In June 1997 she gained a Commons seat as MP for Halifax.

Profs walk out at Dalhousie

The Halifax Herald explains the background to the strike by the Dalhousie Faculty Association:

"Talks between the university and faculty association have been ongoing for several months, but have failed to resolve the two main issues -- money and the replacement staff question.

"The faculty association, which wants a 13 per cent raise over 32 months, argues that Dalhousie professors are paid far less than their counterparts at Canadian universities of similar size. Dal professors make an average of about $65,000 a year. Assistant professors start at $35,000, while full professors make a maximum of $89,000. The average faculty association salary is $63,500.

"The association also wants guarantees that the university will replace faculty members who leave. Dal has lost 113 faculty positions in the past 10 years.

Students picket at a meeting of the Dalhousie board of governors last week, demanding that contract talks resume. (Dalhousie News photo.)

"Dal negotiators are offering faculty a 9.5 per cent pay hike, which they say will add $17 million to the university's deficit. But the university argues that government funding cuts make it impossible to replace all staff who leave."

The DFA has a little more than 700 members, including those who entered the union less than a year ago when the Technical University of Nova Scotia became part of Dalhousie as "DalTech". In a January vote, union members gave 94 per cent approval for their leadership to call a strike. It's the second in DFA's history; bitterness remains at Dalhousie after a strike in 1988.

The walkout comes with two weeks left in Dal's winter term. University management responded to the strike by declaring a lockout and announcing that no DFA member is allowed on university property during the strike. Academic administrators have been instructed to call security officers if a faculty member is found on campus -- "for example, in his or her office". Classes have been cancelled, except in the medical and dental faculties, where most faculty are not represented by the union.

What's happening at Waterloo

As the day and the weekend go on:

• Richard Greatbatch of Dalhousie University is visiting the applied mathematics department -- hey, Dalhousie really seems to be in the news today -- and will give a 2 p.m. colloquium (Math and Computer room 5158) on "Parameterizing Mesoscale Eddy Transport in the Ocean".
• The Math Grad Committee holds a wine and cheese reception from 3 to 5 p.m. at the University Club "to say goodbye to the graduating class of 1998". (They haven't exactly graduated yet, but that last round of exams is imminent. The library says that extended hours begin this weekend, with both Dana Porter and the Davis Centre library open later at night for the studious and desperate.)
• Joseph Novak of the philosophy department speaks at 3:30 today (Humanities room 334) on "The Binding of Isaac and the Castration of Ouranous" -- "two stories from antiquity which give rise to reflection about the nature and legitimacy of commands or practices of a deity within the moral domain", stories which inspired ideas from Kierkegaard and Plato respectively.
• The Club That Really Likes Anime, CTRL-A, offers its last show of the term tonight, starting at 4:30 in Engineering Lecture room 101. Among the animated films to be shown: "Blue Seed", "Key the Metal Idol", "Patlabor".
• The 37th annual Athletic Awards Banquet begins at 5:30 tonight at Federation Hall. The athletics department might still have tickets, at $15 a head.
• "We will celebrate Easter two weeks early," writes Ming-Peng Gong of the Chinese Christian Fellowship, which sponsors an event tonight along with three other Christian groups. "There will be songs, a drama presenting the Easter story, and a speaker, all centred around the Easter message. This will be followed by a time of refreshments." Things start at 7:00 in Math and Computer room 2065.
• The annual general meeting of FASS is rather more than just a meeting. There's voting for next year's executive -- the people who will make FASS 1999 come to pass -- but there's also general foolery and partying, plus a showing of the FASS 1998 video. Current members and everybody interested will be equally welcome; the event starts at 7:30 tonight in the Humanities Theatre.
• "Retro Night" comes to the Graduate House tonight, "with tunes from the Beatles to the Bangles". There's dancing. Tomorrow night at the Grad House: a benefit concert (for YIC, not explained) by Pandemonium.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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