After a strike lasting 45 days, academic staff at Brandon University won a solid settlement which members ratified Dec. 6.

“Every academic staff association in Canada is in debt to the members of Brandon University Faculty Association," said James Turk, executive director of CAUT, in a letter to the faculty association’s president Joe Dolecki. “Your members’ determination, courage and solidarity are now the model and the standard for all the rest of our member associations who will be facing the same challenges in their next round of bargaining.”

The new contract, which covers about 240 academic staff at Brandon, calls for salary increases of 8.5 per cent over four years, plus annual increments, an increase of one step on salary floors and ceilings, effective April 1, 2011, as well as improvements to professional development and travel allowances, and a one-time $3,000 settlement payment.

The agreement also provides that for each year of the contract any savings from the annual unfunded pension liability special payments will be divided equally among academic staff, student bursaries and the university’s operating budget.