Prince George, B.C. – The fate of the contract dispute between UNBC and its Faculty Association is now in the hands of arbitrator Stan Lanyon.

Five days of arbitration hearings wrapped up Monday. The main sticking points between the sides was compensation.

Barb Daigle, UNBC’s interim vice-president, administration and finance and HR director described the process as “fulsome.”

“Both parties published fairly long submissions and then we replied to each others submissions and then had the opportunity to speak to those submissions at the hearings,” she said.

“The arbitrator certainly has a good overview now of the issues and that’s good, and now he’s got to make a decision, so we’re waiting for that.”

As for when the decision comes down, Faculty Association president Stephen Rader said it’s anybody’s guess.

“It’s really hard to know, he didn’t give us any clues about how long he might take and he has to spend quite a lot of time looking at precedent, looking at other decisions that he and other arbitrators have rendered in previous cases.

“So it could be a major research project and I don’t really have a good sense to know how long that might take.”

Regardless of the decision that comes down, both sides agreed they need to move on.

“I think the university is looking forward to moving on from here and finding new ways to work constructively with the Faculty Association and so hopefully the arbitrators decision will help us do that,” said Daigle.

Rader concurred: “At some point we’re going to get the decision and both sides will have to accept it – it’s binding.

“But at some point we’re going to have to come back to the table again and negotiate the next contract so I think it’s really incumbent on both sides to start thinking about what we can do to repair the relationship. Things have been somewhat tense on campus since the strike last spring.”