Last-minute agreement averts university strike

REGINA With last-minute bargaining narrowly averting a strike at the University of Regina, a tentative deal will now go to the membership of the University of Regina Faculty Association (URFA) next week for a vote.

According to Eric Bell, communications officer for URFA, if the vote is favourable, it’s expected the deal will be ratified by May 1.

“I think everybody wanted to avoid the strike. It’s not something that anybody wants. It’s not fun for faculty, it’s not fun for students, it’s not fun for the university, so I think everybody’s probably feeling a bit of relief today,” Bell said in an interview on Tuesday.

Details of the tentative agreement, which was reached shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday, aren’t being made public until it’s voted on and accepted.

The university’s management is also now breathing a sigh of relief.

U of R Provost Thomas Chase said the university is “very pleased to have reached a tentative agreement” with URFA, and they look forward to the agreement being put to a vote among URFA’S members.

The agreement comes less than a week after URFA gave university administration official notice that a strike could begin Thursday morning. News of a tentative deal was posted in a statement on the U of R’s website on Monday evening.

The faculty’s most recent contract expired in June 2017, and bargaining began in April 2018.