Our Latest Bargaining Update

The bargaining committee is pleased to report that we have come to an agreement with the administration on the important issue of medical, emergency, marriage, and bereavement leaves. We are still negotiating parental leaves and have started discussing hiring priority and course allocation.

While there has been positive movement at the bargaining table, the actions of the administration outside of negotiations are worrying. As you may be aware, the administration has decided to cut 100 courses in the faculty of arts, cuts that they have indicated will primarily affect course lecturers. These cuts were announced without prior consultation with our union, and had been decided before the budget cuts, which raises concerns regarding other possible future measures. We have been actively denouncing these cuts in all fora, demanding that the administration reverse its decision. More here

If you happen to hear any suspicious talk about course cuts in your department, contact us immediately at lecturers@agsem-aeedem.ca, or call us at 514 600 0646.

More courses to be cut

It has recently been brought to our attention that the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES) is planning to reduce its course offerings in a way that would target course lecturers and instructors. A memo circulating in the department seeks advice internally on which courses to eliminate. It does not, however, consult the possibly affected course lecturers, or their union representatives. AGSEM Unit III denounces that these measures continue to be implemented across the campus, and deplores the lack of transparency and discussion surrounding them.

We are currently arranging to meet with the course lecturers at FAES and Faculty of Arts to work together to ensure that course cuts do not go through.

For more details on this newest developments, see the recently published McGill Daily article on the subject. Also see our response to the Arts course cuts.