The 1,600 teaching assistants at McGill University approved Thursday evening the agreement in principle reached with their employer, so that they put an end to their strike that began almost a month ago.
In a press release published Friday morning, their union revealed that the new employment contract provides for salary increases of 15.5% over four years, as well as “guarantees of transparency on the allocation of teaching assistant budgets “.
The hourly salary of teaching assistants, which is currently $33.03, will thus gradually increase to reach $38.46 starting on 1er August 2026. The new collective agreement will be in effect until July 31, 2027.
According to the union, this agreement comes at a good time, since it arrives in time to avoid “the worst of the negative impacts” that the labor conflict would have had on the end of the session, which is due to end on April 30.
Nearly 1,000 courses were affected by the strike, the union said.
On its Facebook page, the Union of Graduate Student Employees of McGill indicated that the agreement in principle was approved by 75%, but did not specify the participation rate.
McGill teaching assistants have been on strike since March 25. They then gave themselves an eight-week strike mandate, citing in particular the dispute over wages.
Negotiations for a new collective agreement began eight months ago, according to the union.
Teaching assistants are graduate students registered at McGill University who help and supervise students in their studies.
Generally speaking, they are responsible for correcting academic work, leading seminars, taking care of some administrative tasks and responding to emails, in addition to meeting with students outside of class hours to advise them on their work. and their upcoming exams.