UNB faculty strike stops presses at Brunswickan newspaper

The Brunswickan student newspaper at the University of New Brunswick has stopped publishing its printed edition indefinitely due to the strike by teaching staff at the university.

The online edition of Canada's oldest official student publication continues.

Wednesday is a publishing day for the newspaper. But in the Jan. 15 online edition, editor-in-chief Nick Murray informs that the strike by the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers has forced the not-for-profit paper to stop printing operations indefinitely.

"We have a great stream of advertising which feeds a chunk into our budget, but it’s only one cog in the gears of how we operate," states Murray. "A large portion of our budget includes your student fee, but because of tuition not being paid, the university is unable to provide us with the student levy upon which we rely to operate."

Advertising revenue is not enough to cover the printing costs, he said.

"With the student levy, we can cover all costs because it makes up for what we lack in ad revenue," states Murray. "But given the uncertainty of the negotiations, and how long they could potentially last, we made an executive and editorial decision not to print hard copies of the paper because we’d lose less money than we would by going online only. It’s a lose-lose."

About 550 full-time professors, teaching staff and librarians at UNB's campuses in Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton and Bathurst walked off the job Monday in a legal strike. They are demanding pay comparable to other mid-sized Canadian universities.

The university is offering a 9.5 per cent pay increase over four years. The AUNBT is seeking a pay raise of more than 23 per cent over that time.

The student union at UNB will hold a general meeting for undergraduates at 7 p.m. Thursday in order for them to ask questions about the strike. The meeting is set for room T102.