Queen's University Faculty Association members voted overwhelmingly April 16 to accept a new collective agreement. The three-year agreement includes a scale increase of 2.7 per cent the first year and 2.5 per cent the second year. The scale increase for year three will be negotiated. In addition, the union negotiated a special adjustment for junior faculty members in low paid disciplines, and a new floor for assistant professors with tenure track appointments. Merit and career development amounts and junior increments will increase each year of the agreement by the amount of the scale increase. The anomalies fund continues at $110,000 per year and the total available for tuition support will be $390,000 per year. The child care benefit fund is $220,000 in each of the three years.

"The administration did not agree to any increase in the paid maternity or parental leaves," said QUFA chief negotiator Marvin Baer. "However, the parties did agree to make the commencement of these leaves more flexible, to broaden the definition of parents, and to ease the transition back to work of biological mothers."

As well as improvements to compensation and benefits, the agreement includes amendments to articles covering working conditions, early retirement, workload, employment equity, grievance procedures, appointments, renewal, tenure and promotion.

Baer said progress was made in securing potentially greater security for all current bargaining unit adjuncts and the new agreement contains substantial changes to the articles relating to adjuncts.

"Current term adjuncts will now be guaranteed appointments of two or three years when renewed after three consecutive years of service, instead of facing the possibility of an endless sequence of eight month appointments," Baer said. "Initial and renewable adjuncts with six consecutive years of service will be able to move into continuing adjunct appointments when promoted to the rank of adjunct associate professors instead of being trapped in, at best, a series of three year appointments."

Queen's 2002-2005 collective agreement is available at www.queensu.ca/qufa.