Brandon University professors reach tentative agreement

University’s 240 professors won’t need to conduct government mandated vote

A tentative agreement has been reached between striking Brandon University professors and university management. The deal ends the longest university strike in Manitoba’s history.

University president Deborah Poff told reporters the tentative agreement was reached on Nov. 25, ending a 45-day strike that started on Oct. 12.

Neither party will discuss the details of the agreement, but a ratification vote will be held within the next 10 days.

The two sides entered mediation Oct. 25 with the key factors in dispute being wages, benefits, working conditions and contract language.

On Nov. 21, Manitoba’s government ordered the 240 professors to vote on the university’s final offer. The vote had been scheduled to take place over three days this week. The province’s NDP government had been facing increasing pressure to end the strike. The university’s more than 3,000 students were beginning to worry an entire term could be lost if the dispute didn’t end.

Before the tentative agreement was reached, the Brandon University Faculty Association (BUFA) union — the union representing the university’s professors — called the ordered vote an end to free collective bargaining.

Classes will resume on Nov. 28 at 6 p.m.

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