Prince George, B.C. – UNBC’s Faculty Association may be in the midst of a strike vote but the school administration seems confident cooler heads will eventually prevail.

“We’ve had about 35 different negotiating sessions now (since last spring). We’ve actually come to agreement on just over 70% of the articles on the table that are to be negotiated, so we feel we’re making progress,” says vice-president of external relations, Rob van Adrichem.

“I think the fact we’re meeting and that we have meetings scheduled and that we’re signing off on articles shows that we’re making progress”

He declined to comment however on what the Faculty Association consider to be the main sticking points in the negotiations – post-retirement benefits, program redundancy, and salary structure.

“I’m not comfortable at this point getting into that. I don’t feel I’m at liberty to talk about issues at the table.”

And he acknowledges the heat is on considering a strike has the potential to wipe out classes.

“I think we would have acknowledged that even before now. This is a very important issue for UNBC. Without any question I’m comfortable saying this is a very serious issue for the university to come to an agreement with the faculty.”

The results of the strike vote are expected to be released sometime next week.