The strike of law professors held Tuesday at McGill University and that of lecturers looming Thursday at Laval University are not anecdotal, according to union representatives. Rather, according to them, they demonstrate the extent of the challenges that these job categories face in Quebec and the complexity of the negotiations that they must carry out to improve their working conditions and adapt their salaries to the increase in the cost of the life.
For the first time in the history of McGill University, founded in 1821, its law professors held a one-day strike on Tuesday, in the context where they are struggling to ratify a collective agreement with their employer, to which In particular, they are demanding better salary conditions and a lighter workload. Around fifty teachers gathered on Tuesday in front of the establishment’s Chancellor Day pavilion, in the city center, to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with their employer, whose lack of collaboration in the progress of current negotiations they criticize.
“McGill refuses to meet with us, and when they do, they do not negotiate in good faith,” laments law professor Evan Fox-Decent in an interview. The university is also contesting the validity of the accreditation obtained in 2022 by the McGill Association of Law Professors, which then became the first professors’ union within the establishment by virtue of a decision of the Administrative Labor Court. The employer did not wish to comment on the “continuing discussions regarding the collective agreement”. The union, for its part, has a mandate to hold up to four more strike days, if necessary.
Meanwhile, in Quebec, the Union of Lecturers at Laval University (SCCCUL-CSN), which adopted a 10-day strike mandate last November, announced Tuesday that it would hold a first day of walkout on Thursday if negotiations surrounding the renewal of its collective agreement, which expired in December 2022, continue to stumble on the issue of salaries and retirement. It must be said that currently, the establishment’s approximately 1,700 lecturers currently earn “significantly” less than their colleagues who work for the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières or the University of Quebec at Rimouski, underlines the Duty the president of the SCCCUL-CSN, Louis Émond.
“For me, it is incomprehensible that Laval University is not able to offer the same salaries as other comparable establishments,” laments the vice-president of the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec , Christine Gauthier, who notes that Quebec lecturers are increasingly demanding fair salary conditions between university establishments and taking into account the rising cost of living.
However, “the main problem is the underfunding of universities”, which often makes them “resistant” to improving the salary conditions of their employees, notes Mme Gauthier. “It’s becoming difficult to have competitive salaries compared to universities outside Quebec. »
Despite this tense context, the vice-rector of studies and student affairs at Laval University, Cathia Bergeron, is optimistic about the possibility of an agreement being reached with the SCCCUL-CSN by Thursday, which would avoid the holding of a strike which would affect up to 67% of the establishment’s students, of whom at least one course is given by a lecturer.
“We remain hopeful that the work of today and tomorrow will allow us to obtain an agreement” to avoid a strike on Thursday, she continues, while recalling that the establishment must take into account, in the current negotiations, because “its ability to pay is limited”.
This strike threat also comes a little more than a year after that of professors at Laval University, which stretched over 23 days in 2023 before an agreement with the employer was adopted. “Now, the big issue we are facing is the implementation of the collective agreement,” says the president of the Union of Professors of Laval University, Marie-Hélène Parizeau. It’s a daily struggle. »
A way to get “earnings”
The General Union of Professors of the University of Montreal (SGPPUM) for its part had a 12-day strike mandate last December, but the conclusion last month of an agreement in principle made it possible to prevent union members from resorting to this means of pressure. In this context, the secretary of the SGPPUM, Jean-Sébastien Fallu, notes that, more and more, “the use of strike mandates seems necessary to obtain gains”.
Mr. Fallu also notes that the “long and arduous” negotiations carried out in recent months by several university professors’ unions occur in a context where they have seen their workload increase in recent years. A problem that could partially be resolved by an increase in the hiring of professors, he believes.
However, currently, “we are having difficulty recruiting because salaries are not up to what they should be,” notes the president of the Quebec Federation of University Professors, Madeleine Pastinelli, who believes that there is an urgent need to improve funding for the province’s universities. “If teachers put aside their research to go to the streets and strike, it is because they have the impression that nothing is going well. We must respond to their requests. »