Students block doors at University of Manitoba building in solidarity with striking professors

A group of University of Manitoba students is blocking the doors to the administration building Monday morning to show support for striking faculty.

The University of Manitoba Faculty Association has been on strike for two weeks, demanding higher wages to address recruitment and retention issues at the university.

About two dozen students were outside the university administration building Monday morning, in the middle of the U of M campus, blocking the doors.

The action was organized by Students Supporting UMFA, a group of students who have held various activities in solidarity with the faculty union.

They said they're protestingthe province's interference in the bargaining process. That hasprevented the university and faculty union from reaching a fair deal, the students said.

Jaron Rykiss, one of the organizers of the protest, said students are worried about how long this strike will go on.

"There's fears that this thing is going to keep going on and the administration won't offer a fair deal," he said.

"We know that today they're going back to the table, so today we are here to show up and say we are the ones that are stakeholders at this university.We have a vested interest in you guys offering the best deal that you can."

The action started at 6 a.m. and is set to end at noon.

Rykiss said the students are blocking all entrances to the administration building because they want their concerns to be heard by university officials.

"There's a fear students have that the administration just isn't listening," he said.

"We're going to keep showing up whether or not they're listening and we're going to try our best to make it so that they have to listen."

New offer

University spokesperson Chris Rutkowskisaid the U of M's bargaining team met with the faculty association on Saturday to clarify some details in their respective parties' monetary offers.

Both parties will be back at the bargaining table Monday to continue mediation and work towarda new collective agreement for university faculty, wherethe university is set to propose a new monetary offer, Rutkowski said via email.

The protest caused some tension with university security staff around 7:30 a.m.

Security staff had told the students they weren't allowed to block entrances to the building. When one security guard tried to get through the doors, she was blocked by students, which escalated to a confrontation with them.

The skirmish ended shortly afterward.