BRIEF
Work stoppage looms at St. FX
Conciliator has two weeks to report on talks between faculty and administration.
(2)
Students may soon have more time out of class. Photo: Ken Colwell
Faculty and administration will now play the waiting game after talks between the two parties ended last week.
The St. Francis Xavier Association of University Teachers wants wages to be comparable to those of other universities in the Maritimes. Salaries at St. FX range from about $48,000 to $126,000.
Acadia ranges from $51,000-$128,000 and Saint Thomas from $50,000-$131,000.
"Conciliation talks ended when the university tabled their final offer," said faculty association President David Lynes.
Lynes would not say what the final offer was.
A conciliator now has about two weeks to submit a report of the talks to the province.
Lynes said there is a chance, after the two-week period, the faculty could strike or the school could lock out the teachers.
He would not comment on what the faculty's feelings are right now, but staff voted 82 per cent in favour of a strike in December.
Students are also aware there could be serious consequences to a strike.
"The time that we miss will either shorten out reading week or lengthen our year, [I] really wish that this does not happen," said Will Metherall, a student at the university.
"You don't really expect this to happen in university because, well, you're paying a considerable amount of money to be here."
Officials from the university would not respond for comment.
Comments on this story are now closed
A real shame that our young people have to deal with this sort of thing.I admire anyone who has gone through the many challenges that a university life offers and those who have made it through 4 years should be allowed to graduate and get on with their careers and use the skills and knowledge that they have paid for.If the professors feel they are not being paid enough perhaps they should relocate to other locations.I personally was not happy in my job so made the appropriate changes. Please let's not use our young as a bargaining chip.
Posted by Kevin Spicer | Feb 5, 2010
I agree with what you are saying about the strike being difficult to deal with but the thing is our professors deserve a raise and I support them 100%. This university is supposed to be the premiere undergraduate education in Canada; well what X needs is to pay the profs accordingly.
Posted by Amanda Mack | Feb 15, 2010