The strike by members of the Dalhousie Faculty Association ended March 28 after a 92 per cent ratification vote for a new collective agreement. The strike by professors, librarians, counsellors and instructors began March 4 over complement, wages and fairness.

The three-year agreement calls for the university to provide a total DFA bargaining unit staff of 760 members "some of which may be contract positions," said DFA president Andrew Wainwright. "We've agreed that the current complement of at least 684 members must hold full-time faculty positions."

The agreement has wage increases of 2.8 per cent each year and a one-time comparability adjustment of $1,000 added to salary for every member of the bargaining unit. There are also annual funds of $140,000 for special salary increases, and $100,000 for anomalies.

Wainwright said the staff replacement issue was the most contentious in contract talks with the university. "We argued that replacing professors who retired or left was fundamental to the quality of education at Dal."

"The DFA held to their principles during a difficult strike," said Neil Tudiver, CAUT chief negotiations officer, who attended the final sessions that were run by mediator Milton Veniot.

Faculty also received improvements to career development increments, vacation and parental leave benefits. Tenure review has been improved, with tighter deadlines and expedited arbitration of negative decisions.