The Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) is the oldest Teaching Assistant Union in the province of Quebec. As a labour union, AGSEM represents graduate Teaching Assistants, Invigilators, and Course-Based Academic Casuals at McGill. AGSEM has bargained with the McGill administration to produce TA and Invigilator Collective Agreements, which are legal documents that protect student workers.
Recent NewsBack-to-back bargaining sessions bring movement at the table: big wins in clarifying positions, article 13 signed! - Unit 3 Bargaining Updates #22 & 23
This update covers two closely spaced bargaining sessions, held on May 6th and May 11th, where discussions focused heavily on positions, workload protections, and leaves. Across both sessions, your Unit 3 bargaining committee continued pushing for clearer job definitions, stronger accountability mechanisms around workload, and explicit protections against excessive preparatory work, unclear job expectations, and the erosion of leave rights through vague external references to labour standards legislation. May 6, 2026 Following a verbal offer at the April 29 bargaining session, McGill formally provided the written version of the Article 11 (Positions).
Following a month's delay, motion at the table! - Unit 3 Bargaining Update #20
The month of April has been unusual, with McGill cancelling multiple sessions as they needed time to go back and reevaluate their position. This followed March, where the Unit 3 bargaining committee tabled its monetary proposal and McGill responded with a wage offer that was not only a real wage pay cut, but furthermore, a pay scale that would allow your wages to be decided arbitrarily by the manager. First, we will cover our session with the McGill Writing Centre (MWC) on March 25th before discussing our latest (brief!
McGill's Underbaked Monetary Proposal - Unit 3 Bargaining Update #19
On Wednesday, March 18th, we met with McGill to receive their monetary response to our proposal, and it was bleak. Regarding leaves and absences, McGill said they still need some time, so we expect to hear those items during one of the next two bargaining sessions. However, for non-monetary items, McGill separated their proposal into three distinct sections. Starting with section one (articles 4 to 14), McGill proposed liberating 2 “average contracts” of 30 hours per semester.