On October 21, members from the Windsor University administration and the Windsor University Faculty Association reached an agreement over a months-long labour dispute between the two parties.
The union and university have reached a tentative deal, which would provide faculty with a new three-year contract with the school.
WUFA members were supportive of the agreement, with a majority of the faculty voting 65.8 percent in favour of the decision.
“I want to thank the members of both bargaining teams for their exceptional efforts to achieve a new collective agreement that will help position the university for the future,” said Windsor University president Alan Wildeman in a press release Oct. 22.
In successfully reaching this deal, the university will end several months’ worth of negotiations and arguments between the two parties, and solidify the situation for faculty members.
Prior to reaching the decision, close to 1,000 members of Windsor University’s faculty had been without an official contract, prompting actions such as sporadic walkouts from the affected party.
In order to reach the consensus between parties, the university sought out the assistance of senior provincial mediators from the Ministry of Labour during the first week of October. The mediators enabled both sides to come to a compromise on the new contract.
The release also revealed some of the important elements of the contract. The university revealed WUFA members will also receive annual Windsor Salary Standard adjustments, designed to “to ensure that salaries within each rank remain at the median within the province.”
Members will also receive lump sums of $1,250 in the first two years of the contract, and sectional instructors’ stipends will increase to $8,000 per course, in addition to an increase in pension plan contributions.
Classes have remained as scheduled during the proceedings and can now be assured of a stable end to the semester.
