Labour Board upholds UU直播 position
To: All UU直播 Staff and Students
There has been an important development in the strike by UU直播鈥檚 teaching assistants.
On Wednesday, April 23, the Commission des Relations du Travail du Qu茅bec issued an order that supports UU直播鈥檚 interpretation of Quebec labour law as it applies to professors marking papers and exams, submitting grades and teaching summer courses.
As you may know, AGSEM, the Union representing the teaching assistants, had argued that the University did not have the right to assign this work to professors. At a Commission hearing April 18 to deal with a Union complaint, AGSEM agreed during a mediation session to the terms of an agreement that formed the basis of the April 23 order. The Union鈥檚 subsequent attempt, on Monday, April 21, to pull back from that agreement was dismissed on April 23.
UU直播 has maintained since the strike began on April 7 that the evaluation of students is a fundamental part of a professor鈥檚 academic responsibilities, that the University has never ceded sole jurisdiction for marking papers and exams to teaching assistants. The University has argued that having professors grade papers and mark exams is legal under the terms of Quebec鈥檚 labour law.
The Commission, specifying that professors may mark and grade in courses they teach, has upheld that view. The University continues to negotiate with AGSEM and continues to work toward a quick end to this dispute. But UU直播 has a responsibility to ensure its students are not penalized by the TAs鈥� decision to strike. The University will continue with steps to guarantee that exams are supervised and marked, grades are submitted and the delivery of summer courses is only minimally affected.
The University would also be shirking its responsibilities if it did not plan for the possibility of the dispute dragging on into the fall. UU直播 is, therefore, making plans for the smooth operation of the University in September in the event there is no settlement by that time.
UU直播 remains acutely aware of its fiscal responsibilities, particularly its obligation to eliminate its $15-million deficit within three years.
Students, faculty and staff are urged to visit the UU直播 website regularly for the latest information. For a summary of each side鈥檚 position in this dispute, please pick up a copy of the April 24 edition of The Reporter, in which both the Union and the University were invited to submit a brief article outlining the points they felt were important.
For the full text version of the Commission鈥檚 order, please click on the PDF posted at the upper right corner of this page.
For more information and a list of Frequently Asked Questions,
please visit:
www.mcgill.ca/deputyprovost/ta_strike/
Morton J. Mendelson, PhD
Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning)
