Guelph faculty association members ratified their first collective agreement April 1, bringing to an end more than a year of negotiation. The tentative agreement reached March 13 with the university administration was brokered with the assistance of a mediator hours before a strike deadline.

The four-year agreement provides base salary increases of 4.16% retroactive to July 1, 2007, a further 4.75% in July 2008, 4.75% in July 2009 and 4.84% in July 2010. In addition, the university agreed to pay all academic staff the same annual increments, starting at $1,900 on July 1, 2008 and increasing to $2,000 and $2,100 in each of the last two years.

As well as improvements to the money package, veterinarians now have job security, research and study leave continues at 100% salary and the university committed $200,000 a year for release time for faculty association work.

Negotiators for Guelph and the faculty association were unable to agree on intellectual property language and will submit this unresolved issue to arbitration.