UNB contract talks fail

[SIZE="3"]The University of New Brunswick and its full-time faculty union have failed to reach a contract agreement after a conciliation effort failed to bring the two sides together.

[B]The conciliation breakdown brings the possibility of a [COLOR="Red"]strike[/COLOR] or [COLOR="red"]lockout on campus [/COLOR]one step closer.[/B]

On Tuesday, a conciliation officer told Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Donald Arseneault that an impasse remained despite two weeks of talks between the university's administration and the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers.

Lori-Jean Johnston, a government spokeswoman, said the two sides have 15 days to consider what happens next. One of the options is a conciliation board.

According to the union representing UNB's full-time faculty, it's unlikely such a board will be set up.

If the union does formally reject the idea, there's a seven day waiting period. After that, the administration could give a 24-hour notice of a lockout or the union could call a strike vote.

The union, which represents 600 full-time teachers, researchers and librarians, had its last collective agreement expire on June 30, 2009.

According to a union release issued in late December, UNB had offered a zero per cent increase in the first two years followed by 0.5 per cent on July 1, 2011 and Jan. 1, 2012, and 0.75 per cent on July 1, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013.

Students support media blackout

Two years ago, a similar situation at St. Thomas University ended up with faculty off the job and classes cancelled for five weeks.

Jon O'Kane, the president of the UNB Student Union, said he hopes that the St. Thomas University experience is not repeated at the province's largest university.

O'Kane said he's glad to see both the administration and union have agreed to a media blackout during their dispute.

"It's comforting to know that here so far they've been able to co-operate and they may not be agreeing as we can see by conciliation breaking down, however they're willing to have deliberations in a respectful way," O'Kane said.[/SIZE]