McGill teaching assistants win 15.5% raise after strike

MONTREAL, April 19, 2024 /CNW/ - At a General Assembly on Thursday evening, McGill University's 1,600 teaching assistants (TAs) put an end to their month-long strike. They walk away with 15.5% pay rises over the next four years and guarantees for transparency on how the University allocates TA budgets.

"Our battle was one for decent living conditions for McGill graduate students. We owe our gains to the extraordinary mobilization of our members, but also to the solidarity shown by the entire university community," explains Dallas Jokic, member of the Association of Graduate Students Employed by McGill-CSN (AGSEM-CSN) negotiating committee.

The union nonetheless condemns McGill's refusal to recognize in the text of the new collective agreement that misgendering and deadnaming represent a form of harassment of transgender teaching assistants. The union calls on McGill to include language clarifying that misgendering is a form of harassment in their Policy on Harassment and Discrimination, under review in the upcoming academic year.

The settlement of the labour dispute comes just in time to avoid the worst of the negative impacts it would have had on the end of term, officially scheduled for April 30. The strike affected the normal conduct of nearly 1,000 courses at the University.

"When it comes to McGill's quality education, the essential role played by teaching assistants needs no further demonstration. The members of AGSEM can be proud of having stood up to an institution like McGill - what aplomb!" exclaimed Caroline Senneville, President of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN).

"The cost-of-living crisis has a severe impact on teaching assistants, who often live in precarious conditions. The gains they have secured prove once again that it's by standing up that you earn respect as a worker," adds Dominique Daigneault, President of the Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain?CSN.

"After a year of very little flexibility at the bargaining table, it took a strike to bring the employer to a respectful offer for teaching assistants. We salute the union's tenacity," concluded Christine Gauthier, Vice-President of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec-CSN (FNEEQ-CSN).

SOURCE CSN