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Carleton and its striking support staff have agreed to a one-day meeting with an outside mediator.

But even as news of the planned Wednesday sitdown emerged, tensions were simmering Monday over what the workers’ union called bombshell revelations about the pension plan that’s at the heart of the strike, now in its fourth week.

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The union local representing the roughly 850 striking says a review of amendments made to the plan has uncovered some “subtle manipulations” dating back to 2003.

Those amendments, passed by the board of governors’ pension committee, established a special account to record pension contributions, to fund plan deficits and to create a mechanism for the university to recover all the payments, with interest, if the university is in a pension surplus position, said Kevin Skerrett, senior research officer and pension specialist with CUPE.

That account now has more than $102 million in it — and is growing by between $7 and $10 million a year, Skerrett said.