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THE COURSE LECTURERS AND INSTRUCTORS CALL ON
A NEGOTIATION IN GOOD-FAITH WITH
FAIRNESS, TRANSPARENCY AND COLLABORATION.

The MCLIU executive thanks our membership for all their support and special thanks to our Bargaining Committee!

The following Mobilization mandate was adopted unanimously on February 8, 2019:

Whereas, MCLIU has been in negotiation with the Employer since June 2018 and since only one article (15.03) has been discussed pertaining to courses reserved for McGill community members who are not on the priority points list such as Graduate Students;

BIRT the Union take all necessary measures required to mobilize its membership to take action for an equitable second collective agreement that provides job security and rights that are otherwise accorded to all course lecturers of Quebec Universities.

As Course Lecturers and Instructors of McGill, we are:

• Loyal and form part of the essential academic teaching staff of a great institution of higher education;
• Fulfilling our role not only as educators of future generations, but as educators with wholehearted dedication and passion, skillful and effective communication and creative vision;
• Contributing to McGill’s mission: “advancement of learning and the creation and dissemination of knowledge, by offering the best possible education, by carrying out research and scholarly activities judged to be excellent by the highest international standards, and by providing service to society”;
• Proud of our achievements to give the best to our students even though we do it with limited resources;
• Committed to offer our services year after year to McGill because of our dedication for this University.

RESPECT AND FAIRNESS FOR ALL

In continuation of our previous communication regarding the deadlock in negotiations, we would like to inform you of the following developments:

• Me Donald Tremblay has been appointed by the Ministry of Labour as the Conciliator, following the request of the Employer;
• This March, with the assistance of Me Tremblay, the Union and the Employer will resume negotiations on articles other than article 15;
  The Union has requested that the article 15.03 arbitration, on the illegal hiring of external candidates under the category of professional, be resumed.
• We will continue to keep you posted on all developments concerning arbitration and conciliation as events unfold.

Please join us this Friday, for our Annual General Assembly, where we will:

• Present an update on the negotiations and the critical issues through a power point presentation by the chair of the bargaining committee;
• Seek a Mobilization vote;
• Present and vote on the union’s annual budget.

Remember, our Union and our Collective Agreement are the power of the sustainability of our academic careers. Our strength is our solidarity.

See you all in full force this Friday.

Failure in reaching an agreement on article 15

As you are aware, article 15 of our Collective Agreement deals with categories of employees who can receive courses from the Course Lecturers’ employment pool. Article 15.03 specifies a percentage of courses that are reserved for McGill community members who are not on priority points list including post-graduate students, post doctoral fellows, adjunct professors, managers and professionals working in the University. This article has been a point of contention because several hiring units continue to purposely misinterpret the application of the article in order to circumvent the Collective Agreement, resulting in loss of work for many of our members and subject to over 200 related grievances.

In an effort to amicably resolve these grievances and move forward to have a clearer wording that does not lead to misinterpretation, the Union has been negotiating in good faith since June 2018 on article 15.03. Unfortunately, despite significant concessions offered by the Union to the Employer, the last being on January 6, 2019, the University has not reciprocated and continues to hold its original positon concerning three key issues. The Employer insists on a larger percentage of reserve courses and on a new external hire category called “Course Practitioner”, insists on a global percentage rather than per hiring unit and refuses to ensure course allocation security by wanting to be able to withdraw a course from a Course Lecturer at any time and assigning it to a Faculty Lecturer.

With this background and as per the Letter of Agreement between the Union and the Employer, which set the negotiation deadline to find a solution on article 15.03 by December 31, 2018, the Union informed the employer of its intention to restart the arbitration process to address related grievances and seek an adjudicated interpretation on the matter. The Union suggested that the parties continue their negotiations on other clauses of the Collective Agreement, starting with less contentious issues so as to rebuild a momentum.

In reaction, the Employer decided to make a formal request for a conciliator to be appointed by Quebec’s Ministry of Labour. Parties are expecting communication from the Ministry soon. A Ministry appointed conciliator will assist the parties in a non-binding role to negotiate the rest of the Collective Agreement.

For more updates and a power point presentation on this issue by the Chair of the bargaining committee please attend union general assembly next Friday.