The College of New Caledonia Faculty Association has a new two-year contract in place, guaranteeing labour peace for the next year.
A ratification vote of the college's 155 part-time and 133 full-time instructors was held at five campuses over the weekend resulted in 95 per cent approval.
"We want to give congratulations and many thanks to our team, who did such an excellent job in negotiating a contract that was so clearly approved by our members," said association president David Rourke, in a prepared release.
The contract, which was also approved by CNC's board of governors, expireson March 31, 2014. It includes four one per cent increases. Final approval from the Post Secondary Employers Association (PSEA) is expected soon.
The monetary items were worked out collectively with nine other college faculty associations in early February. Terms of the agreement are in line with the province's co-operative gains mandate, which requires public sector unions to find savings within their respective organizations to pay the cost of members' compensation gains.
CNC achieved those savings through an expedited arbitration hearing and mediation process, which saved on salaries. Both sides agreed to joint development of employee training to create a respective work environment and a mandatory one-day course on harassment and bullying. The union also agreed to allow their employers to claw back a professional development fund paid for by instructors if that fund, which represents 0.6 per cent of salaries, is not used at the end of the year. Before the new agreement, any unused portions of the fund were rolled over to the following year.
