McGill's anti-union stance puts Canada's biggest academic conference in jeopardy

MONTREAL, May 16, 2024 /CNW/ - Showing contempt for employees' collective bargaining rights comes at a high price: the strike launched by the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL) on April 24^th is putting in jeopardy Congress 2024 – the largest annual gathering of academics in Canada, organized by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences – which was scheduled to be held on McGill's campus from June 12^th through June 21^st. Already several learned societies, including the Canadian Political Science Association, the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Philosophical Association, the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, and the Canadian Law and Society Association, have indicated that they will not ask their members to cross picket lines to participate in their conferences in the event that the labour dispute continues. Professors from across Quebec have contacted their learned societies to express their discomfort: in their view, the idea of participating in an academic conference being held at an institution currently engaged in an aggressive anti-union campaign against its professors is untenable.

These actions follow the unwavering support of the Federation Québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université (FQPPU) and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), who have called upon McGill to stop holding its students and Canadian academics hostage and engage in good faith bargaining with its professors. "McGill's administration first fought AMPL's certification – and its members' rights to collective bargaining – before the courts in a strategy more akin to Walmart and Amazon than what we should be entitled to expect from an institution of higher learning," recalled FQPPU president Madeleine Pastinelli. "Now, having deliberately stalled negotiations and insulted students who support AMPL, the administration simply refuses to come to the bargaining table. It's becoming more and more clear that McGill stance is one of contempt for its professors." Indeed, the university has only agreed to meet with AMPL on June 7^th, more than six weeks after the last bargaining session and ten full days after its students' scheduled graduation.

Given these circumstances, the FQPPU formally invites the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences to abstain from taking the employer's side, directly or indirectly, in the labour dispute between McGill and its law professors. "Any position that would suggest the Federation condones the disregard for the fundamental right to collective bargaining would tarnish its reputation as a defender of democratic and progressive learned societies," said Madeleine Pastinelli. "With this in mind, we believe it's the Federation's responsibility to propose a contingency plan to its members in the event that Congress would occur during a labour dispute in which the host institution has shown such disregard for its professors." Recall that AMPL's members opted for unionization in response to an increasingly top-down work environment at McGill, where, in the absence of a collective agreement, a culture of arbitrary and unequal treatment has led to important disparities in both workload and remuneration.

In a press release published on April 11^th, AMPL set out its objectives, which could hardly be more reasonable. According to the union, just two or three days of intensive bargaining could resolve the situation which, due to the university's inaction, continues to deteriorate.

Since 1991, the FQPPU has been the consultation and representation body for Quebec university faculty.

SOURCE Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université (FQPPU)

Émile Bordeleau-Pitre, conseiller stratégique aux communications, 514-692-3643, [email protected]