MRU and faculty association reach agreement in principle in contract negotiations

After more than 22 months of contract negotiations between Mount Royal University and its faculty association, bargaining teams announced Monday they have reached an agreement in principle.

This follows a period of mediation that ended with the mediator issuing a report recommending terms of settlement, the Calgary university said in a news release.

Details of the agreement in principle remain confidential as it will now be  submitted to the faculty association membership for ratification.

Two weeks ago, the Mount Royal Faculty Association was threatening a work stoppage, saying there were "major outstanding issues," including no wage increases since 2017, increasing workloads and uncertainty surrounding contract employees.

The faculty association represents nearly 800 full-time and contract faculty, including professors, clinical instructors, counsellors and librarians.

The faculty association said it would provide further comment once the agreement has been presented to its membership. 

News of an agreement in principal is being welcomed by the Students' Association of Mount Royal University.

"We're thrilled to hear that both parties were able to reach an agreement in principle.… I'm pretty optimistic that the faculty association will ratify that agreement because students know that faculty are not interested in going on strike," said students' union president Spirit River Striped Wolf.

"The relationships that students have with faculty is deep rooted as a result of our smaller class sizes. I think that the culture at MRU is unlike any other culture. We're all students centred and committed to student success, which is why the [students' union] relationship with the MRU administration and faculty association is so great."