Full-time academic staff at Wilfrid Laurier University ratified a new three-year agreement last month.

The contract, affecting 500 faculty and professional librarians at Laurier’s Waterloo and Brantford campuses, includes an Ontario wage-parity adjustment of $1,800 and a salary increase of 7 per cent over three years. Improvements were also made to terms and conditions of bargaining unit work resulting in a four course faculty workload.

The new agreement followed a bargaining unit motion for a strike vote and three days of conciliation in early February. Academic staff had been without a contract since last June and the faculty association had anticipated a settlement before the end of the fall term.

“These were difficult negotiations under difficult circumstances,” said Judy Bates, president of the WLU Faculty Association. “Our members welcome an improvement in workload and acknowledge the effort of both negotiating teams to arrive at a satisfactory settlement.”

The collective agreement has also been ratified by Laurier’s board of governors.