Contract academic staff at Wilfrid Laurier University ratified a new collective agreement earlier this month that offers steady pay increases throughout the next three years.

According to the agreement, struck Nov. 26 with the assistance of a provincial mediator, contract academic staff will be receiving an increase to their base pay of 1.5% in the first year plus a lump sum of $70 per course, 1.5% in the second year, and 1.5% in the third year. The agreement will be in effect from Sept. 1, 2013 to Aug. 31, 2016.

In addition to the salary increases, the agreement also implements new workload provisions, adds an additional $5,000 to the research fund to support the professional development of contract academic staff and an additional research support grant, and introduces new language governing course cancellation fees.

Negotiations on a new agreement for Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association’s 350-member contract academic staff bargaining unit began May 13. Bargaining unit members had handed their union a 90.6% strike mandate in mid-November and would have been in a legal strike position at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 28.