UVM’s faculty union United Academics has been in a deadlock with the University over a contract dispute about salaries since Sept. 11.

The union, which represents roughly 850 full and part-time faculty members, re-negotiates their contract with the University every three years.

“After a prolonged bargaining process, UA and the administration of UVM have reached an impasse in our negotiations,” said UA President Tom Streeter, professor of sociology in a Sept. 12 email to the UVM community.

The standstill follows the end of the previous three-year contract June 30.

Last year, professors previously rallied outside of the negotiations room Feb. 6.

This broke with the tradition that issues not be discussed publicly, said Enrique Corredera, executive director of UVM communications.

The Sept. 12 UA email listed facts and figures that were intended to provide context about the contract that just ended.

In the email, UA said they “are confident that [by] working together constructively and in good faith, [the two parties] will reach a mutually satisfactory outcome, as has been the case currently with all other employee groups at UVM.”

UA contested some of the points made in the UVM release in their own press release later that day.

It disputed UVM’s choice to “deliberately distort and cherry pick facts instead of working constructively,” the press release stated.

“UVM is not broke,” Streeter said. “We fully support a sustainable budget for UVM.”

The next step for negotiation is the hiring of an outside mediator acceptable to both sides, according to both UVM and UA.

An acceptable mediator has been hired, with the first meeting to take place Oct. 25, Streeter said.

“There are very few issues left to resolve,” he said. “We fully expect to be able to come to an agreement on a contract before too long.”