U of M strike: Conciliation talks continue after late meetings

Collective bargaining talks continue between the University of Manitoba administration and the faculty association on Thursday after a round of late-night discussions.

UniversityspokesmanJohnDanakas and University of Manitoba Faculty Association president Mark Hudson both said the two sides will meet again with theprovincially appointed conciliator, but neither will makeany statements about the progress or details of Wednesday's talks.

After discussions broke off on Sunday, the administration and union headed back to the table Wednesday afternoon, with UMFA presenting a new proposal on workload, one of the key sticking points in the 17-day strike.

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Those talks were still going at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The union and administration have been in on-and-offdiscussions since March 2016, when the last collective agreement expired.

UMFA, which represents more than 1,200 members, went on the picket line Nov. 1 after mediation failed.The conciliatorwas brought in Nov. 2 but the two sides have accused one another of not being willing to make acceptable concessions.

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Administration had said if the dispute wasn't resolved by Wednesday, it would affect the university term that starts in January. More than 29,000 students have already had classes juggled around in the current term.

Some classes have been going on as usual because they are taught by non-UMFA members teaching assistants and sessional instructors. As well, some faculty association members have decided to cross the picket lines and keep teaching.

However, the majority of students have had classes impacted in some way.

Info on courses, classroom scheduling and service changescan be found on the university's website.