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HALIFAX Talks have broken off between part-time faculty and administration at St. Marys University. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents approximately 230 part-time faculty at SMU, applied for conciliation on Friday.

Outstanding issues include wages, benefits and unfair hiring proposals.

Part-time faculty have been exploited by universities for years, says CUPE Local 3912 President Barbara Moore. They have traditionally been a source of cheap labour, earning significantly less than full-time faculty and receiving absolutely no benefits.

Moore says with part-time faculty on the rise in Atlantic Canada up almost 14% between 1993 and 1998 part-time staff are making increasingly larger contributions to the revenue producing side of university budgets.

Part-time faculty are basically subsidizing our universities to the tune of millions of dollars every year, says Moore. Its time to bring a little fairness to the halls of academia.

CUPE Local 3912 represents part-time faculty and teaching assistants at St. Marys, Dalhousie and Mount St. Vincent Universities. Contracts at all three universities expired last summer.

For more information please contact Barb Moore at (902) 542-7981 or (902) 670-4398 (cell).