Unit 3 Bargaining Newsletter #2: McGill’s Response to Our Proposal!

AGSEM’s Unit 3 Bargaining Committee met with McGill for the second round of negotiations!

Our side of the table again consisted of Jordan Cowie (1L, Grader & Course Tutor, Management/Law), Bronwyn Walsh (4th year Undergraduate, Grader & Course Assistant, in Math & Stats), and Donald Morard (PhD Candidate, Grader, History), along with our advisor from the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ), Guillaume Forest-Allard. Cal Koger-Pease, our Unit 1 Grievance Officer, was able to join us remotely through Zoom. We were also able to use open bargaining again to bring in more workers, this time having seven others join us for this session!

During our first session on March 27, AGSEM handed its non-monetary proposal to the employer, whereas for our second round of negotiations, McGill responded with a counterproposal. However, before McGill gave its counterproposal, McGill continued to push back against open bargaining. This was despite the fact that our side announced to the employer that we would return with a similar number of people and the past success of open bargaining during Unit 1 negotiations. This plays into a broader trend of McGill aiming to shutter broader democratic participation in university governance, such as McGill’s termination of the Memorandum of Agreement with SSMU.

McGill’s counterproposal addressed most of the non-monetary items that we proposed, excluding the topics on positions, postings and applications, and appointments. Some of McGill’s offers were frankly quite baffling. For example, McGill’s side proposed striking a clause stating that “The University recognizes the important pedagogical role” of Unit 3 positions, despite this clause being present in both of AGSEM’s Unit 1 and Unit 2 collective agreements. While a minor item of the collective agreement, it was surprising to hear that McGill doesn’t want to recognize the value of Unit 3 labour to the same extent as other academic labour on campus.

More concerning from McGill’s counterproposal was their refusal to add language that would add further protections against harassment and discrimination. This included striking language that would protect workers from discrimination from students, along with striking language that would protect workers from deadnaming.

Some more promising aspects of McGill’s proposal included language that would give more space to the Union, along with McGill largely accepting our proposal on employees being able to see their employee file.

Want to see what comes next? Sign up to attend one of our next negotiation sessions! Your participation helps us bargain in your best interest and have AGSEM stand united <3

In solidarity,

Your Bargaining and Bargaining Support Committees