The two-week long strike by the Trent University Faculty Association has been settled at an all-night negotiating session allowing faculty to return to work on Dec. 3.

The three main issues in the most recent dispute were parity, proportionality and pensions -- but there have been poor labour relations for many years at Trent.

In 1991 the faculty, fed up with what seemed a permanent policy of the university to finance its operations on sub-standard salaries, went on strike and secured an agreement to parity with the average salaries in a group of Ontario universities. That solution was proposed by a mediator to ensure labour peace at Trent.

This year the administration tried to tear up this agreement. It seemed surprised at the negative reaction. The association demanded the return of the formula.

The Trent administration's response to recent cuts in revenue from the provincial government was to disproportionally load the consequences on to the budget for full-time faculty. The association demanded the pain be distributed proportionally between all sectors of the budget and a formula be written into the contract to ensure this. This, said the faculty association, would guarantee the Trent tradition of focusing on high quality teaching.

Pensions are another example of the state of labour relations at Trent. When the board of governors decided to raid the pension fund, the association went to court and won. The administration is appealing. There are also pension grievances winding their way through the grievance and arbitration procedure. The faculty association suggested all these issues be settled at the bargaining table, thereby eliminating the huge legal fees the university will spend on these cases. The administration refused. The administration also refused to make minor changes in the pension arrangements which would have been paid for entirely from the pension surplus: a good example of counterproductive mean-mindedness.

The strike support at Trent was solid, in part because most academic staff recognized there had been no serious negotiations on the part of the administration during the eight months when the parties were trying to settle the collective agreement.

The administration merely kept repackaging its original position. It seemed to many on the academic staff at Trent that some members of the board of governors were simply interested in revenge for the 1991 strike and settlement and did not care that their intransigence might well cost the students their term.

There had been intensive mediation on the weekend before the strike with Kevin Burkett as mediator. That mediation had failed. Near the end of the two weeks, mediation recommenced. The faculty association proposed arbitrating all outstanding differences. It also made it clear it was prepared to continue the strike if the administration was not prepared to move.

Details of the settlement will be in the January Bulletin. More information also available at the TUFA web site - http://www.pipcom.com/~tufa.