CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - The SIUC Faculty Association's bargaining team is considering the administration's latest offer in an effort to end a five-day-old strike at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. WSIU Radio reports that negotiators spent about 27 hours at the bargaining table. Afterward, the university presented the union with an offer that includes a 4 percent pay increase over the life of the contract and no furlough days for the 2012 fiscal year. SIUC Chancellor Rita Cheng says the university's bargaining team is ready to return to negotiations if the Faculty Association is ready to finalize an agreement and end the strike. Faculty Association spokesman Dave Johnson says they're giving SIU's offer serious consideration. He says the package does cover all of the issues in dispute but large differences remain. - http://goo.gl/igP2u
