Prince George, B.C. – UNBC and its Faculty Association remain far apart in contract negotiations after another round of bargaining this weekend.

“I would say we met, we talked, we didn’t sign off any articles and we remain very far apart on tenure and promotion, program redundancy, and compensation. Some of our major issues so progress continues to be quite slow” says Faculty Association president Dr. Jacqueline Holler.

The weekend talks included the assistance of a mediator and was preceded by a 84.8% strike mandate by members of the Faculty Association.

However Holler hasn’t given up hope a deal can be reached.

“We’re very committed to reaching a negotiated settlement so we have mediation booked again starting Friday morning and we’re working 24/7 to get a deal here.”

The overwhelming strike mandate means the Faculty Association has 90 days to initiate some sort of strike action but Holler says that would be a last resort.

“We definitely see job action as something we want to avoid. It’s profoundly disruptive to the lives of students in particular, so we’ll go there if and when we have to.”

In a statement on their website, UNBC points out bargaining has been ongoing since last May with both sides signing off on over 70% of the articles that have been presented during negotiations.