The shadow of the strike hangs over the campus of Université Laval. Faced with the deadlock in negotiations and the “systematic refusal” of management to accede to their demands, the 630 members of the Union of Professors of Laval University (SPUL) adopted a strike mandate by 96% two weeks.
The mobilization takes on a historic character since, since the creation of the SPUL in 1974, no general assembly has succeeded in bringing together more than 50% of the union’s members.
If the discussions for the renewal of the teachers’ collective agreement break down, the SPUL intends to declare a strike from February 20 to March 3 next. Claiming to be “well aware of the significant impact” of such a walkout on the lives of students, the union is opening the door to “accelerate negotiations” in order to find common ground by then.
However, the SPUL issued this ultimatum: “Laval University now has one month to avoid a strike. »
Protecting Academic Freedom
The union demands, listed in a 20-page notebook presented to the management on May 27, are divided into four areas: the reduction of the workload, the improvement of salary conditions, the preservation of academic freedom and the protection of teachers with precarious status.
Laval University professors are calling for better work-family balance for parents and caregivers, in addition to a “substantial” increase in salary scales due to inflation. “More and more, we find ourselves using the elastic resource that is the Université Laval professor to shovel more responsibilities in his backyard,” laments the president of the SPUL, law professor Louis-Philippe Lampron. “The myth of the university professor who gives four courses a year and spends his summers on vacation is false. »
The teachers’ union is also demanding a significant catch-up in terms of remuneration. In terms of salaries, Université Laval is at the bottom of the pack among the 15 best research universities in Canada, specifies Mr. Lampron. The union members also want to prohibit the employer from claiming sums that were erroneously overpaid to them.
The SPUL also wishes to strengthen the protection and autonomy of the teaching staff, in particular by preventing the University from consulting their emails without a valid reason. “We don’t know if this is common practice, but we know that current law gives employers a lot of leeway in this matter,” explains Louis-Philippe Lampron. We want to ensure that, despite the current state of the law, the employer does not assume the right to abuse this prerogative. On this point, specifies the president of the SPUL, the two parties seem to have almost reached an agreement.
The union also asks to eliminate the “duty of loyalty and civility” of professors towards their employer, on the pretext that Laval University “limits more than any other university in Quebec the scope of academic freedom” by invoking this obligation. .
Teachers also demand fair and equitable treatment in the event of a complaint against them. Their union wants in particular to “eliminate any possibility of imposing a sanction in situations where no signed and dated complaint has been filed and in the absence of an allegation of serious misconduct”.
The notion of “repeated negligence”, too vague in the eyes of the SPUL, should no longer be enough to dismiss or suspend a professor. Only professional misconduct or serious misconduct should lead to these sanctions, according to the union. “Any principle that is too broadly defined leaves room for arbitrariness,” concludes Mr. Lampron. We want to discern more precisely the offenses likely to lead to such severe penalties. »
The University hopes to reach an agreement “as soon as possible” but assures that “if the SPUL chooses to resort to means of pressure”, the student community will be able to count on “the contingency plans required” to guarantee the resumption of classes. .