The University has said it is unwilling to include Appendix 13 in the new collective agreement “at this time.” Appendix 13 is the text of recommendation #5 in the conciliator’s list of recommendations and has to do with benefits paid in the event of a strike or lockout.

At the same time, the University has been given ample opportunity to discuss and resolve the tax matter they claim is critical to the status of our LTD plan and that is holding up the settling of our agreement. In fact, however, on April 17 they received an opinion from experts specialized in taxes mandated by the PSAC. This opinion states that according to tax laws the tax free status of the LTD plan would NOT be affected by the union’s paying premiums during a strike and that furthermore any premiums paid by the union would not be considered as taxable income.

After it sent this opinion, representatives from the accounting firm called the University’s representatives on several occasions in order to discuss the matter. The University did not return any of their calls, nor did they provide a written answer. On Sunday, May 13 they simply told MUNACA / PSAC that they “don’t agree” with the opinion. They gave no reasons nor did they say when they’d be prepared to meet over the matter.

The University has written to our members directly, claiming that they are “eager” to sign the collective agreement and implying that the union is being unreasonable, even attacking its credibility. Yet they have made no effort to contact the PSAC or its tax experts to address what they claim is a critical taxation issue.

In the past month, MUNACA has written the membership, informing everyone that aside from article 23.10, there were a few “minor issues” left to discuss. The reason for this is that we considered the LTDpremium issue to be “minor.” And for good reason! We had a formal opinion from tax experts that there was NO issue, and we shared this opinion with the University.

Regardless, the union has proposed simply adding a sentence to Appendix 13, to the effect that “the parties will continue to work on resolving the taxation issue the University has raised regarding LTD premiums.” The University has refused to include this sentence and proposes instead we sign a collective agreement with the entire Appendix missing. This makes no sense. We may or may not go on strike again, but if it should ever happen it is essential that we have a guarantee that benefits will continue to be covered, as happened during our last strike.

Over the past 6 months, we have witnessed an odd series of what we believe are delaying tactics by the University, each one more difficult to anticipate and more incomprehensible than the last.

At this time, as we finish going over the text of the collective agreement, especially the newly presented French version, we’ve proposed a meeting of our two tax experts, to see if the tax issue can be resolved and we can get the agreement signed. We’ll let you know the University’s response as soon as we hear.