Trustees of the fund have been called on a total of three times already in 1998 to consider requests for strike benefits.

On Feb. 9 the board approved strike benefits, a line of credit and an additional loan for the Acadia University Faculty Association. The strong strike mandate the members had given to their executive, an administration that did finally agree to move from previous positions and patient negotiation finally led to a settlement in that case.

On March 16 the trustees approved strike benefits, a loan to cover insured benefits and a $1-million line of credit for the Dalhousie Faculty Association.

On March 26 (one day after the start of the Dalhousie strike) the trustees again met and considered the situation at the University of Winnipeg. They approved payment of strike benefits, a loan to cover benefits and a $300,000 line of credit for strike support. After lengthy negotiations with help of a mediator the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association reached a tentative agreement on March 29.

In all three cases the trustees also authorized further support in the form of solidarity visits by academic staff from defence fund member associations in case of strike action. During the Dalhousie strike academic staff from Halifax and other Nova Scotia universities joined Dalhousie Faculty Association members on their picket lines from the first day of the strike. A National Solidarity Day with participation by at least 14 faculty associations organized by Defence Fund Trustee Denise Nevo of Mount Saint Vincent University was scheduled for April 3. The tentative agreement resulted in the cancellation of this action, but the enthusiasm of union members from many universities indicates clearly that the DFA was not alone in its struggle.

It would be reassuring to suppose that administrations have begun to learn that there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by forcing academic staff into the undesired resort to strike action. There is no evidence for this supposition. Therefore the continued and growing financial strength of the CAUT Defence Fund is the best guarantee that faculty associations in Canada will be able to come to the bargaining table with confidence. The economic power of university employers has an important counterbalance. Indeed, since the end of last May the assets of the defence fund have grown from $8,376,000 to a current $9,175,000.

During the past year it has become possible to reliably carry out more of the routine business and information handling within the defence fund by electronic means. This is already resulting in savings for members and will develop further in the future. And an invitation is extended to visit the new web site of the defence fund at defencefund.caut.ca. As well as providing basic information about the fund, the site will provide a permanent record of the web sites created by faculty associations during their strikes. Such sites, most recently in the Dalhousie strike, have already provided invaluable support to the task of communicating faculty association news and positions to students, other faculty and to the general public.