Faculty agrees to private mediation with university in wake of strike notice

KAMLOOPS – A private mediator will be brought in to help settle a nearly year-long labour dispute between faculty and administration at Thompson Rivers University.

Faculty at the university agreed to private mediation with school administrators following a 72-hour strike notice that was delivered yesterday morning, Jan. 11.

While the TRU Faculty Association have taken the steps toward resolving the dispute, the strike notice remains in place, university spokesperson Diana Skoglund says. Faculty and university administrators have been at the bargaining table for the last 11 months. Skoglund says the university will post bargaining proposals on its website today, Jan. 12.

The union for the faculty is demanding the university hire full-time faculty members for ongoing work, and argue much of the university's annual budget pays for administration.

To read the collective bargaining agreement between TRU and the faculty association, click here. 

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.