The UQAM Teachers’ Union, which represents lecturers, reported Thursday that the day before, its members voted 90% for an indefinite general strike at the time deemed appropriate.
The president of the union, Olivier Aubry, believes that this support for the strike sends a clear message to the management of UQAM.
He explains that after 29 negotiation sessions spread over more than a year, the negotiation is still at a standstill. He argues that management wants to impose rollbacks from the collective agreement currently in effect.
These setbacks include, according to the union, an increase in the probation period and a reduction in the duration of the employment relationship, as well as loss of qualifications for courses not given after five years.
One of the major demands of the union affiliated with the CSN concerns the establishment of measures favoring the stabilization of jobs for its 2,500 members. Lecturers have 15-week contract positions with no job security even though they give, according to the union, more than 60% of undergraduate courses.
The union hopes that the designation of lecturers will be replaced by that of professors, hence the new name of the union. When it was founded in 1978, the name was that of Syndicat des charges de cours de l’UQAM.
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