Cape Breton University faculty accept contract offer, ending strike

Cape Breton University faculty members have accepted a new offer from their employer, ending a 12-day strike in Sydney, N.S.

The contract was ratified Tuesday after roughly 200 members of CBU Faculty Association voted 84 per cent in favour of the deal. 

The agreement includes a nearly nine per cent salary increase over three years, along with room for annual bonuses.

"We didn't get everything that we asked for, but we're certainly closer to recognizing that cost of living has had a major impact on our salaries,"  said Peter MacIntyre who speaks for the union, representing CBU librarians, archivists, lab instructors, nursing practice educators and research chairs.

Earlier this year, the union rejected an eight per cent wage increase over three years. 

The strike began Jan. 27, which led to the cancellation of a majority of the university's classes. Other teaching staff at CBU who are part of a different union continued to hold classes. 

A university spokesperson said in an email to CBC that classes taught by the CBU Faculty Association will restart on Thursday, unless otherwise advised by the instructor. 

MacIntyre said striking workers are looking forward to returning to work, but tense negotiations between the union and CBU administration will be difficult to overcome. 

"There's been an underlying issue of respect through this entire negotiation and we have an inordinate number of grievances here at CBU. The faculty association filed something like 64 grievances since the current president took office a few years ago and that's an incredible number for a university our size."

MacIntyre said their negotiating team was given a new contract offer Sunday by telephone with the help of a provincial conciliator. He worries the lack of communication between both sides will continue beyond the strike. 

"Everything was done through a conciliator and by telephone, and that's not a good sign for the future of relationships. So what I'm hoping for is that the board of governors takes a pause, asks themselves, did they really do what they intended to do in provoking this faculty strike?"

Last week, the faculty association said students were not included in meetings with CBU's board of governors and were not allowed to protest inside campus buildings during meetings. They also accused the university of deleting social media posts made by students about the strike. 

Damanpreet Singh, president of the CBU students' union, said those concerns over the silencing of students will be brought to administration. 

"We will … make sure this will not happen in the future," he said. 

Singh said student representatives will be working with CBU administrators to ensure students are financially compensated because of the strike, which led to the cancellation of a week-and-a-half of classes. 

CBU president David Dingwall said In a statement Tuesday that the tentative agreement provides a solid foundation to strengthen relationships. 

He also promised students that they will be compensated for lost time.

Details on that will be announced in the coming days. 

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