At least the city will have beer to help drown its labour sorrows.

About 130 unionized employees at Oland Brewery voted in favour of a new seven-year deal with their employer Sunday. The details of the contract were not made available, although Labatt spokesman Wade Keller says the deal includes pay increases as well as enhancements to the employees’ defined-benefit pension plan ‘ which workers will now pay into.

But the brewery was just one of many skirmishes between unions and management across HRM.

Faculty and staff at Dalhousie University voted 83 per cent in favour of striking on Friday after talks with the school’s administration broke off Wednesday. Professors and staff could walk off the job two weeks after a provincial conciliator files their report.

“This should send a message to the Dalhousie Board about the strength of our resolve to get a fair deal,” said Anthony Stewart, Dalhousie Faculty Association president, in a release.

Talks will resume between the province’s district health authorities and CUPE, which represents over 4,000 health-care and clerical workers across the province. The DHAs and the union will negotiate 18 different collective agreements at what the districts are calling a shared “provincial table.”

Things aren’t going so well for approximately 3,800 workers at Capital Health. On Thursday, the NSGEU announced talks had broken down with the employer. The union is filing for conciliation, and plans to hold a strike vote soon.

And, of course, you’re still walking or carpooling to work. The transit strike will roll into Week 3 on Thursday, with no end in sight. This morning, members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508 will make a symbolic gesture by briefly delaying the Access-a-Bus service ‘ which resumes normal operation this week, with Metro Transit supervisors operating it ‘ as it leaves the garage.