It has been a long time coming, but the end is in sight for a contract to be signed between the University of Saskatchewan and CUPE Local 1975, which represents support workers at the institution.

The contract expired in 2015 and Friday it was announced that a tentative agreement has been signed.

President of the CUPE Local, Craig Hannah, says, “After seeing very little movement for so long, we are glad the university agreed to our request to come back to the table this week. We were even happier when they agreed to move toward a deal.”

The university says in a statement that it appreciates the commitment and contributions of all its employees and is pleased to have concluded this round of collective bargaining.

Approval is still needed from the university’s Board of Governors and the contract needs to be ratified by the approximately 2-thousand union members. The union says the agreement includes pay increases and protects pensions with a guaranteed level of income for all workers when they retire.

The agreement comes a day after an Essential Services Tribunal cut the number of union members deemed essential from the university’s proposed 250 positions to just over 40.