Brock University professors and librarians have taken the first step toward forming a union.

At the certification polls on Nov. 26 the result of the count conducted by the returning officers for the Ontario Labour Relations Board showed that 64 per cent of eligible faculty members had voted in favour of certification. Among librarians, whose votes were segregated and counted separately, 75 per cent were in favour. Seventy-eight per cent of potential voters cast ballots. As a result of the count Brock University Faculty Association has been recognized as holding trade union status and has received interim certification.

Although Brock faculty members are among the least well paid professors in the province, salaries are not the main motivation for certification. According to Professor Dawn Good, president of the faculty association, "the university administration has increasingly tried to alter employment conditions unilaterally, rather than negotiating such changes with the people affected. Under these circumstances, two out of three Brock faculty members have concluded that we need the more equal playing field that will come with certification."

Professor Good added that she does not think that certification will produce greater hostility or distance between professors, librarians and university administrators. "Once we have the rights associated with certification, I think we will be able to return to a collegial and harmonious style of decision making since each side will see the other as an equal partner. We look forward to negotiating our first contract, as a certified body, with the University."