Varsity staff stall strike

By STUART DYE

A threatened strike by 7000 university staff has been called off after a temporary deal was reached.

Helen Kelly, general secretary of the Association of University Staff, speaking on behalf of the combined university unions, declined to release details of talks held in Wellington yesterday. But she said sufficient ground had been made to avert the first of five days of strike action planned over the next five weeks.

The universities will respond to a new proposal by Friday. The unions have been negotiating since last October, seeking two national collective agreements to replace more than 13 enterprise agreements at local university level.