A union representing University of Manitoba students is calling for full refunds and amnesty for students if a labour agreement deal is not met between the school’s faculty and administration.

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union said the 21-day strike last November left over 80 per cent of students facing uncertainty in their educations. The union said the previous agreement reached expired in March of 2017.

“With no further negotiations to date, the University of Manitoba Students’ Union is urging both parties to reach a settlement by midnight on September 19, 2017, to guarantee students’ academic stability for this year before the class withdrawal and fee refund deadline on September 20,” the union said in a news release.

“If a deal cannot be reached, UMSU is calling for a public commitment from the University Administration to offer full refunds and academic amnesty to any student who requests it.”

The union said precautions must be taken to protect students’ interests, and reaching a settlement by Sept. 19 will minimize negative effects.

Meanwhile, the University of Manitoba said it is focused on resolving negotiations with the faculty association as quickly as possible.

It said they have been working with faculty since January to plan out a bargaining process to reach an agreement.

The University of Manitoba’s Executive Director of Public Affairs John Danakas said they had an initial meeting with the association on Feb. 28 asking for an expedited process, as they resolved a lot of non-monetary issues during bargaining last fall. However, Danakas said the faculty still had to meet with its membership and said it would take until the end of March.

Since then, Danakas said they have had more follow-ups with the faculty association, but it is still in the process of consulting with membership.

“We were disappointed in that. We wanted to expedite this as quickly as possible,” Danakas said.

In terms of giving students full refunds and amnesty pending an agreement, Danakas said the university is focusing on the bargaining process.

“I definitely understand the sentiment behind that request. I think it’s a reminder to how crucial it is that we put our full attention to resolving this before it has an impact on students,” he said.

University of Manitoba Faculty Association President Janet Morrill said they are working through their own internal process as quickly as possible. She said they hope to have their mandate in place by the end of July, with a goal of formal bargaining starting in August.

“It’s unfortunate we’ve had this short-term agreement imposed on us. We’re doing things as quickly as we can. Yes, we are further behind than is ideal,” Morrill said.

“We need to go through our processes with our members to make sure we are coming to the table with an understanding of what our members want so we can shortcut those processes,” she said.

Morrill said the call by the students’ union for a refund and amnesty in case of a strike seems like a reasonable request.

“We try to support students in any way that we can. Our issues last year were issues that directly impacted the quality of education for students,” she said.