MONMOUTH (AP) - Western Oregon University faces what could be the first faculty strike in the history of the state's higher education system.

Bargaining ended Friday without an agreement or plans for further talks, a university spokeswoman said.

“We're back to planning for a strike,” said Cheryl Gaston, director of public relations. “We're disappointed. That almost goes without saying. We're stricken.”

The faculty wants a total salary increase of 14-percent between now and 2009, retroactive to the beginning of this academic year. The university's offer is 9.7 percent, also retroactive. The difference amounts to $1.3 million, bargainers said.

While classified staff members have struck before, “this would be the first faculty strike if in fact it happens,” said Diane Saunders, director of communications for the seven-campus higher education system.

The faculty has set a strike deadline of Wednesday.

Negotiations have been under way since summer on a four-year contract. The school has a total faculty of 238 full, associate and adjunct professors. It has 3,917 students registered for spring term, which begins next week.

Gaston said the school is advertising for additional teachers who would work during a strike to teach spring quarter classes, especially to make sure the seniors graduate on time. She said some existing faculty members say they'll cross picket lines and teach for overtime pay and that the university can use administrators in classrooms.

“We're at the end; we can't go any further,” she said. “To offer the increase we're offering, we're banking on 250 new students next year.”

Peter Callero, chairman of the budgeting team for the American Federation of Teachers Local 2278, said the faculty is aware that a strike would be a first for Oregon, but “we're willing to take a strong stand.”

He said faculty members are concerned about a “long history of underfunding higher education. We're losing quality faculty to other universities, and we're having difficulty recruiting faculty at our starting salaries.”

Western Oregon describes itself as the oldest institution in the Oregon University system, founded in 1856. It began as a normal school, training teachers. It says about two-thirds of its students are in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a third in the College of Education.

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Information from: Albany Democrat-Herald, http://www.dhonline.com