The negotiating teams of the Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) and Board of Governors met Wednesday evening at the Board’s request; however, the discussion was short lived.

“We are very disappointed with the Board’s most recent offer, as well as their decision to walk away from negotiations almost immediately after our team indicated that the offer was unacceptable,” said AUFA President Dr.. Peter Williams. “All along our wish has been to get back to the bargaining table. We took the invitation to restart negotiations two days into the strike as a hopeful sign that the Board was committed to ending the strike and moving forward. But their offer provided almost no significant change from the offer that our members overwhelmingly rejected in June and again in September. We think it is particularly unfair not just to our members but also to our students and their parents, to get people’s hopes up for what turned out to be an offer that was clearly not designed to negotiate an end to the strike.”

In their offer, the Board’s team did indicate that they were prepared to allow the word “equity” to appear in the contract. However, the financial package contained no improvements, and would increase inequities among faculty members. The Board offered to add a fourth year to the contract, but the lengthened contract would still see Acadia faculty salary grids fall further below regional averages. Acadia faculty salary grids are currently six percent below the average in Atlantic Canada, and about 20 percent below the national average.

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