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As was communicated earlier, the Union considers the University’s intention to increase class caps of up to 300% for the summer session to be a severe violation of Course Lecturers’ and Instructors’ rights. Therefore, the Union is making its voice heard at every level, including writing an open letter to Principal Fortier. This letter was drafted in consultation with the whole McGill community. As you can see, almost all of McGill’s Unions and Associations have signed in support. We hope that the Principal, the Provost and Deans will ensure to revert this decision to increase class caps and respect employees’ rights. Following is the letter to Principal Fortier.

Dear Principal Fortier,

We the undersigned, representing the Unions and Associations that make up the McGill community, write to express our serious concerns regarding recent developments involving a request by different Faculties to have class caps increased for the upcoming online summer courses. An email was sent to all its Course Lecturers asking each of them to increase their class cap by as much as 300% and it is being suggested by some Chairs and Directors that more graders be hired instead as a cost cutting solution. In this time of crisis and with what we are all going through together, we find this request to be disingenuous and opportunistic. One that disregards the well being of Course Lecturers, full time professors, teaching assistants, students and the McGill community.

As a community, we came together to address the COVID-19 crisis. The Course Lecturers and full time professors were called upon to undertake a momentous transition from in-class to online teaching for the safety of students, the safety of the McGill community and the integrity of our students’ education. All answered the call and we are now in the process of providing our students with the highest level of education possible under these demanding and stressful circumstances. Course Lecturers are teaching while dealing with confinement, taking care of family, possible loss of income of their partners and many are concerned of their own job security as we move into the summer and fall sessions. This request to increase class caps is an affront to all of our work and sacrifices in response to the crisis.

In addition, this will impose even greater demands and create more stress for Course Lecturers and students alike. Courses with up to three times the present cap sizes will force Course Lecturers to work harder and longer while still earning the same salary per course. All this while knowing that these larger class sizes will inevitably mean less courses available to them and their fellow colleagues in the near future. Making their jobs even more precarious. Students themselves will not receive the education and support they deserve. With larger class sizes the availability of the Course lecturer to address their questions, concerns and needs will not be met by the high standards expected from a McGill University education.

Students will most likely have to also worry about privacy issues, as larger online class sizes will lead to more intrusive methods of testing in the name of efficacy. Students will be asked to give online proctoring programs permission to access their computers and record their every movement. Students, who will be paying for these courses, should benefit from the expected practices and standard we have in place, namely more regular cap course sizes that are more manageable and fair to all involved.

The email sent out by the Faculty cites demands from students for more summer courses. For the reasons stated above, we believe larger caps on online courses is not the answer. The only realistic answer is more course sections instead. We also believe this is an obvious attempt to undermine the Course Lecturer’s job security even more than its existing precarious situation and to undermine the McGill Course Lecturers and Instructors Union itself directly. We therefore ask you to address this issue in a manner that would better reflect McGill values and with empathy to all its faculty and students. Furthermore, we ask that the University respect the working conditions related to this matter and to send out a new message to all Course Lecturers, full-time professors, teaching assistants and students retracting the present demands.

Regards,

MCLIU (Course Lecturers and instructors) (CSN), President, Raad Jassim

And

AGSEM (Invigilators) (CSN), President, Kiersten Van Vliet
AGSEM (Teaching Assistants and Lab Demonstrators) (CSN), President, Kiersten van Vliet
AMURE Post-Docs (PSAC), President, Sean Cory
AMURE Research Assistants & Research associates (PSAC), president, Sean Cory
AMUSE (Floor Fellows) (PSAC), President, Delali Egyima
AMUSE (Non-Academic Casuals) (PSAC), President, Delali Egyima
MUNACA (Non-Academic support staff) (PSAC), President, Thomas Chalmers
Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill University, External Affairs Officer, Esteban Gongora Bernoske
SEU Facilities management, Faculty Club, Residences, President, Jose Rego
SEU Macdonald campus (Powerhouse and Trades), President, Andrew Fraser
SEU Trades Downtown, President, Allen Neil
SSMU, Vice President (External Affairs), Adam Gwiazda-Amsel

The University is intending to double and even triple the class sizes for the online summer courses. In the past two days, different departments have emailed Course Lecturers informing them that the University will increase class sizes by up to three times. The departments are asking employees to respond by Monday noon.

The Union has supported and cooperated with the University in the best possible manner so that the COVID-19 crisis does not impact delivery of courses and negatively affect students from receiving their education. Most of our members, who have been teaching during COVID-19, have had to quickly transition from in-class to online, involving an enormous amount of work and extra hours without any extra compensation. All this while dealing with isolation, extra stress and possibly taking care of family at home.

This cooperation of the Union and our members, however, is not being respected. Instead, the University seems to be using the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse towards severe violation of our work conditions by increasing class caps by three times and increasing workload on Course Lecturers.

The Union strongly condemns this move by the Employer, which clearly and significantly violates Members’ rights. In some cases, it proposed to raise class caps from 45 to as many as 150 students. The Union asks its Members to refuse such requests of the Employer and respect their original contracts with the regular class sizes. Please ensure that your class size is as per your contract and is as it has been historically.

We are calling upon the Employer to address greater student demands for courses this summer with more sections and not larger class sizes. If the Employer imposes increased cap sizes, please contact the Union immediately and we will advise you on the next course of action.

Lastly, and most importantly, please keep safe.

MCLIU Executive

The Union Executive wishes you peaceful and happy holidays.

MCLIU, along with McGill’s other unions and associations, has been meeting with the Administration during the COVID-19 situation on a weekly basis in a forum called the Employees Group. Union concerns and other emergency issues are brought to the attention of the Administration during these meetings. The Provost has kindly accepted to create a focus group to discuss issues that will be brought to the attention of the McGill Emergency Operating Committee (EOC).

Some of the questions and concerns raised by MCLIU, for which we are waiting for replies, are the following:

• Summer courses: posting, allocation, and online deliveries
• The need for resources to deliver online coursse such as, and not limited to, equipment, computer, data/internet access, training, security and privacy
• Addressing both federal and provincial government emergency funds, given class cancellations
• Special attention where social distances will impact certain hiring units: nursing, music and other laboratory and field teaching courses.

Your Executive and Delegates Council are available to address any inquiries you may have. As information becomes available we will share it with you right away. In addition, don’t hesitate to contact your hiring unit’s chairs or director for any issue, concerns or resource needs.

In the meantime the Union would like to remind you of a few key resources available to Members:

If you have lost a teaching contract due to COVID-19, the Federal government is offering several resources, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Please view the following link for further information and how to apply for these resources:

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html#individuals
https://www.canada.ca/fr/ministere-finances/plan-intervention-economique.html#particuliers

For online teaching resources please visit the following TLS sites:

Teaching remotely guide:
https://mcgill.ca/tls/files/tls/tls_teaching_remotely_guide.pdf.
https://mcgill.ca/tls/instructors/class-disruption.

Software use in courses: TLS site on Zoom for teaching
https://www.mcgill.ca/tls/instructors/class-disruption/tools/zoom

In this time of transition and online teaching, with all the issues it brings, the Union has made a point of clearly siting and reminding the Administration on your right to freedom of conscience and teaching inherent to an institution of Higher learning.

« Toute Chargée ou tout Chargé de cours bénéficie des libertés de conscience et d’enseignement inhérentes à une institution universitaire. »

Lastly, and most importantly, please keep safe.

MCLIU Executive

With the start of courses again at McGill this week, your Union wanted to wish you all the best of luck in this transition period. We are confident that all our Members will provide for their students an education worthy of the high quality Course Lecturers have come to be known in the McGill community. We encourage you to work with your department and supervisors towards successfully completing the term for the benefit of our students. We also encourage you to reach out should you have any questions regarding this transition. McGill has pledged to provide all the assistance necessary. Contact your department if you need anything at all.

We wish to remind you that as per government decree, all contracts are to be honoured and paid until May 1 at least. Please verify your pay statements that this is the case, especially for any summer contract that you may have been issued.

Please have a look at the information and resources provided by the Federal and Quebec government by clicking on the link below. There are resources available for Course Lecturers and their families, including financial assistance if you are unable to work in case of COVID-19.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/covid19-individuals.html

https://www.quebec.ca/en/family-and-support-for-individuals/financial-assistance/temporary-aid-for-workers-program/

Lastly, and most importantly, please keep safe by following all health and safety directives issued by the government and McGill University.

https://www.mcgill.ca/coronavirus/

https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/2019-coronavirus/

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.html

Your Union will continue to work hard and is available to all Members who may have questions and issues in this difficult time.

As we deal with the realities of COVID-19, the University has approached you to transition your regular course lectures into an online format. While the Union supports the need for our students to complete their semester, it also wants to assure that all our rights are protected. As such, the Union position related to the online transition is as follows.

Given the circumstances and very short transition period, the Union believes online can be a live lecture through the use of the Zoom video conferencing platform provided by the University. But it can also be a recorded lecture via Zoom, PowerPoint slides with your lecture embedded in each slide or any other pedagogically sound delivery method you deem reasonably given the short time period that are then upload to My Courses.

We remind you to communicate directly with your Hiring Unit administrator should you have any issues in preparing for this transition, including any technical requirements that would be necessary in completing your work.

Each member should make sure to place the following statement on the work before uploading:

“The following work is the sole property of the author and is for personal use only by students in completing this course. This work is not to be reproduced or distributed in any manner without prior written consent by the author.”

In addition, the Union has communicated to the University that all postings and allocations be maintained as per the Collective Agreement and that this transition to online should not have a negative impact on our mmbers. Please advise us if you find any action that may hinder your right to allocated courses.

The Union has also communicated to the University that all pay for contracts issued be given, notwithstanding any cancellation because of the present circumstances.

On a final note, the University asked Members to complete a self-assessment health form, which is available in the employee menu on Minerva. You may be contacted to document your situation if the self-assessment is completed. You are under no obligation to complete this self-assessment. The Union believes that it is your discretion whether or not you complete this self-assessment and that each Member should use their own best judgement since it relates to privacy issues. If you decide it is pertinent to complete this self-assessment given the circumstances, you may ask the University that this personal data related to your health be permanently deleted/purged from the McGill system once this emergency is over.

Please stay safe and in touch with your Union. Make sure to send us a note if you feel that your health or your rights are being put at risk.

Dear Members,

The McGill administration, without consultation from Course Lecturers or any other members of the McGill community, has communicated its intention on moving forward with an adhoc action plan that involves a distance teaching approach. The Union supports all efforts to make sure our students receive the necessary instruction to complete their courses and semester successfully. But the Union cautions against any plan that puts its members in any precarious situation where their rights and health are put at risk.

All members were asked to consider alternate modes of teaching, meaning online. This raises a few concerns. First, we recommend that you choose the method of online delivery that you are most comfortable with and will deliver the necessary instruction for your students. McGill will be providing information and training concerning the Zoom online platform, but we encourage each member to reach out to their Hiring Unit administrator to receive all possible assistance they feel is necessary. Second, the technology available to members may not be adequate in meeting the need to transition to online. Again, we recommend that all members contact the administration to make arrangements to access the necessary tools. Third, it is the Union’s position that all material produced by Course Lecturers and put online are the property of that Course Lecturer. We recommend that members choose the means they have the most control over and if any materials are put online that they include the following disclaimer: “All content is property of Member Name and no use by McGill University is permitted without prior consent.”

Additionally, McGill administration sent an email on March 14 to all instructors indicating that the circumstances make it possible for Course Lecturers “to adjust the remainder of their course outlines, including any outstanding assessments, from what was originally communicated at the start of the term.” We believe this gives our members the flexibility to adjust the amount of content to be delivered and related grading. Members, especially those with final sit-down exams or who are having difficulty with going online in such a short period of time, to come up with a plan and consult with their Hiring Unit administrator. Please make sure all communication with the administrator is by email.

In this time of uncertainty, we encourage our members to fulfill their contractual obligations as best as possible and support the needs of our students, but we ask you to report to the Union any excessive demands placed upon you or that put you in any unnecessary health risk.

MCLIU would like to share with you the following emails:

a. Email from the Associate Provost (Teaching and Academic Programs) provost states:

“We are cancelling all classes for two weeks, online and in-person, including exams and assessments.”

b. The Deputy Provost – Student Life and Learning (Fabrice) sent out another email that states:

“All classes, teaching labs, exams and other assessments are suspended for two weeks – except theses defenses. We will continue to work on resuming most teaching and other academic activities online by the end of this two-week period. Instructors will be in touch with students during this period to prepare for resuming academic activities.”

c. The email of March 14, 2020 from Fabrice, Deputy Provost Student Life and Learning:

“As per clarifications from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, McGill will remain operational during the two weeks, but only necessary functions and activities will be provided on campus. Where possible, employees will be expected to work remotely, unless otherwise notified. Supervisors will reach out to employees with instructions and next steps. IT’s guidelines for remote work can be found at www.mcgill.ca/it/work-remotely. All academic and administrative staff, including casual employees who were scheduled to work over the period, will be paid.”

Please monitor McGill administration emails, the situation has been rapidly changing and our agility is being put to test. Together we will prvail and overcome this unfortunate sitution.

MCLIU Executive

As you know, we have been negotiating for over two years with the Employer and still have not concluded a collective agreement. In this context, on Monday, March 9 our Delegates Council unanimously adopted a strike mandate to present to our membership in a Special General Assembly on Friday March 12, 2020.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has been in the background for weeks, but it now has suddenly and urgently come to the forefront. Fair working conditions are a priority for MCLIU, however the safety, overall well being of our membership and the McGill community are equally important. Therefore, the MCLIU Executive Committee and the Delegates Council have decided to postpone the Special General Assembly of March 13 so that we can work on tackling the unexpected consequences of the Coronavirus for our members and the whole McGill Community.

We will keep you informed of any new developments.

In solidarity
MCLIU Executive Committee and Delegates Council