The Faculty Association of University Teachers at the University College of Cape Breton is poised to go on strike on Friday, February 11, after more than three and a half years of bargaining for a first collective agreement.

"We have done everything possible to reach a fair contract with the university administration," said faculty association president Michael Manson. "But it takes two to reach an agreement and the other side does not seem interested."

Salaries are the most contentious unresolved items. With no wage increase since 1988, UCCB faculty members are the lowest paid in Nova Scotia and Canada -- earning about 30 per cent less than the average at all other Nova Scotia universities.

"Based on reasonable projections, the administration's last salary offer would have left us 50 per cent behind the Nova Scotia average at the end of the five-year contract they wanted us to accept," said Manson. "We could not do that to our members or to our students."

"Cape Bretoners deserve an education that is as good as what students get on the mainland," Manson added.

After negotiations reached an impasse in mid-January, the academic staff voted 97 per cent for a strike.

Important unresolved non-monetary issues include promotion and tenure, appointments, intellectual property, copyrights and patents, distance education and technologically-mediated courses. The employer rejected the faculty association's proposal for around-the-clock bargaining on these items, and final offer selection arbitration on the monetary issues.

CAUT president Bill Graham has pledged whatever assistance the UCCB faculty association needs to win this struggle. "It is unconscionable that a university administration with a multimillion dollar surplus refuses to negotiate a decent wage settlement," said Graham.

The CAUT Defence Fund trustees have voted unanimously to provide strike support.

Details about the strike are available on the UCCB faculty association web site http://member.newsguy.com/~fautpage/. "Due to the threat of lawsuits from the UCCB administration, this site had to be moved to a U.S. location where it is covered by more protective freedom of speech laws," noted Manson.