After nearly eight hours of negotiations Wednesday, the University and the Service Employees International Union Local 73 reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. Union members will vote to ratify the agreement next week.

Campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said in an email that negotiators for the campus and the union will meet later in the week to finalize the agreement, which will be presented to the union members to vote on April 4 and 5.

“We’re pleased we were able to reach a fair contract that the bargaining committee feels is fair and equitable,” said Adam Rosen, SEIU spokesman. “Hopefully going forward, the strike shows the University that they can’t survive without us and we don’t have to resort to that again.”

The Union went on strike from March 12 to March 14 instead of accepting the University’s previous proposal. SEIU chief negotiator Ricky Baldwin said in a previous interview members voted against it primarily because the proposed wage increases were too low.

Rosen said the new proposal is a four-year contract with a wage increase for all four years but did not release further details regarding the wage increases.

Negotiations started last June, a few weeks before the previous contract expired. If the Union members agree to the new proposal, the new contract will take effect in July and will run through July 2016.

Rosen said the bargaining team is satisfied with the tentative agreement.

“Based on the bargaining committee voting to recommend the vote yes, the bargaining committee’s pleased with what was presented,” he said. “Unlike last time, where the bargaining committee was neutral and said, ‘Vote how you feel’, this time it’s, ‘We’re recommending a ‘yes’ vote to ratify the tentative agreement.’”

Dan can be reached at [email protected].