The 1,600 teaching assistants at McGill University have announced that they will be on strike starting Monday, as the final sprint of the university session begins.
Teaching assistants at the university voted 87.5% in favor of an eight-week strike mandate last week.
The main point in dispute remains salaries, says Fanny Teissandier, teaching assistant in anthropology since fall 2023.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, she maintains that the negotiations aim to reduce the disparity between the average salaries offered at McGill University and those of other universities to which the establishment compares, which stand at $46.36 time. “There is really a very, very big difference when we know that the salaries of teaching assistants [de l’Université McGill] amount to $33.03,” she specifies.
Christine Gauthier, vice-president of the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec-CSN (FNEEQ-CSN), reacted in a press release on Saturday. “The negotiation was disappointing for the union because the negotiating committee showed flexibility and received very little in return from the University. The strike mandate is strong and our members will not back down until they have obtained a respectful salary offer,” she said.
The workers also want the course hours allocated to them to be indexed in relation to the number of students, a measure which would guarantee them a certain number of hours. “McGill is in the process of reducing the hours contracted to teaching assistants, [ce qui] endangers the remuneration of teaching assistants and also endangers the quality of education that teaching assistants are capable of providing to students,” adds Mme Teissandier.
The negotiating committee is made up of three members of the Association of Graduate Student Employees of McGill (AÉÉDEM) and an advisor from the FNEEQ-CSN. Negotiations regarding the renewal of the collective agreement for these workers began last September.
From Monday, a strike fund will be available to teaching assistants. If they participate in 20 hours of weekly strike activity, they will be able to obtain $350 per week, the majority being paid by the FNEEQ-CSN.
Repercussions for the student community
Teaching assistants are graduate students registered at McGill University who help and supervise students in their studies. Generally speaking, the latter are responsible for correcting academic work, leading seminars, taking care of certain administrative tasks and responding to emails, in addition to meeting with students outside of class hours for advisors on their work and their upcoming exams.
According to Mme Teissandier, the strike could have repercussions on undergraduate students. “These repercussions will really depend on the duration of the strike. Otherwise, indeed, undergraduate students may have difficulty obtaining their final grades for the courses in which they are currently enrolled,” she says.
She hopes that the University will not drag out the labor dispute until the end of the session.
“Teaching assistants are truly essential workers,” she adds. It is time that teaching assistants are treated with respect and dignity to protect their living conditions, but also McGill’s educational mission. »