The University of Manitoba wants its professors to vote directly on its latest proposal.

Conciliation talks ended unsuccessfully on Sunday, with professors poised to enter their third week of picketing.

The administration has asked the University of Manitoba Faculty Association to take its offer directly to union members for a ratification vote and UMFA president Mark Hudson says the union isn't ruling it out.

If the two parties don't reach a deal by Wednesday, cancelled classes will have to be pushed back into the new year, according to a plan agreed upon by administration and faculty last week.

'We are bargaining with ourselves,' administration says

John Kearsey, vice-president external at the University of Manitoba, said he feels the negotiations aren't getting anywhere, and left the table Sunday feeling conciliation talks had broken down.

"It is our belief that the UMFA negotiating team will not accept anything the University offers," Kearsey said in a press release late Sunday afternoon.

"We are bargaining with ourselves. Given the circumstances, we feel compelled to ask the UMFA negotiating team to present the university's offer to UMFA members for a vote," Kearsey said. "We want this strike to end. Our students want this strike to end."

Kearsey said administration has suggested sending the primary issues of workload and evaluation to arbitration, but UMFA negotiators refused.

Quality of education at stake, faculty says

Mark Hudson, president of UMFA, said he was surprised to hear the conciliation was over.

"There were no sort of discussions or nothing was conveyed to us across the table today to suggest that conciliation was over. So, if the university is reporting that it's over they are doing so unilaterally," he said.

He added the union hasn't rejected the university's request to bring its offer to members yet, and is still considering the move.

"The reports that we have rejected their request to take their Nov. 6 offer to our membership directly for a vote also was surprising because we haven't rejected anything," he said.

"We haven't had a chance at all to even convene a meeting to discuss a request."

Before talks began on Sunday, Hudson said the union can't make any further concessions without damaging the quality of education at the school.

"We have moved, and we have moved, and we have moved at the bargaining table to try and avert a strike initially, to try and shorten the strike to the extent we can," he said.

"We're at a point now where, were we to really retreat significantly from the positions that we have on the table, we would be sacrificing that quality of education, unquestionably, moving forward, for students now, but also for students in five years."

On Monday, the union launched an unfair labour practice lawsuit against the university after administration withdrew an offer to increase average union member salary by seven per cent over four years.

The move came after the Progressive Conservative government recommended a one-year extension of all contracts at the school at zero per cent, Hudson said.

Student day of action

On Thursday, the University of Manitoba Student Union, which represents around 21,000 undergraduate students, voted in favour of a motion to support the faculty's demands, although president Tanjit Nagra said Saturday student opinion is still divided.

Dozens of students are set to gather in support of UMFA outside the school's administration building on Tuesday to duplicate professor picket lines

Kirsten Tarves said she's concerned about the disruption to the academic year and wants to get back in the classroom, but agrees with faculty that university practices are having a negative impact, especially on small, specialized departments like her own.

"We lose classes. Classes can't run because they're too small, they're not making money, they're not bringing in enough students," she said.

"Very specialized classes are just, they're slowly disappearing, and eventually I anticipate that the program I'm in will disappear entirely if this process continues."

Tarves said she originally floated the idea of a student picket line to a few friends last week, and around 50 people have come forward saying they want to take part.