Mount A edges closer to strike

Mount Allison University professors are edging closer towards a strike, after voting to reject recommendations from a conciliation board. Under provincial rules, when the government appoints a board, a strike vote cannot be taken until a report has been filed. The conciliation board filed its report on Feb 1 and the union was in a legal strike position Feb 8. The board recommended that salaries increase 2.5 per cent a year for the duration of the contract, but union members elected to vote against the offer on the grounds that their salaries would fall behind other New Brunswick universities. Concerns were also raised about the lack of benefits for part-time faculty and the union objected that the conciliation process interrupts "free collective bargaining."