To the surprise of both sides, the Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) and the Acadia University Board of Governors managed to reach a tenth collective agreement over the summer without a strike vote, conciliation, and a strike.

"The membership was fully set to go out if necessary," said Jim Sacouman, AUFA's chief negotiator. "We had our own sizeable strike fund to supplement the CAUT strike fund."

He said the board's opening proposals were sometimes reasonable and "when they were not, they dropped them." In defending AUFA's proposals he said they were intended "to use a local Acadian image, to build upon the strictly defensive upper dike of the ninth collective agreement by gaining ground towards ensuring that Acadia be a good place at which to teach and do research."

Significant gains in the new agreement incorporate the re-establishment of a complement number for professors, establishing a complement number for librarians, and greater incorporation of librarians into faculty. The three-year agreement, which was ratified Aug. 11, provides for wage increases of more than 25 per cent for assistant and associate professors in their first 10 years of active service, extra money for part-timers, and "average gains for the rest of us," Sacouman said. As part of the monetary package, first sabbaticals will now be at 100 per cent and increased health benefits include a dental plan that takes effect in year two.

In addition, new language will allow course reductions for new tenure stream faculty, a career path for instructors and, as Sacouman calls it, "proper" vacation pay for these employees. The agreement also provides language facilitating the process of selecting Canada Research Chairs and other externally created positions.

In a major step forward, faculty now have an intellectual property clause that enshrines the rights of creators to ownership of intellectual property.

Acadia students and alumni continue to be in alliance with faculty to fight the board's attempt to decrease public representation on the board and reduce the power of the board vis-à-vis the administration. The alumni association has recently launched a major suit against the board for appropriating its money.

"The middle dike is not yet complete but the work continues," said Sacouman.

Acadia settlement details provided by Jim Sacouman, Chief Negotiator, Acadia University Faculty Association.