McGill's teaching assistants declare strike

    MONTREAL, April 8 /CNW Telbec/ - McGill University's 2,000 unionized
teaching assistants are on strike today after McGill's administration failed
to negotiate a new collective agreement in two final bargaining sessions
Saturday and Monday.
    Members of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill
(AGSEM) have worked with an expired collective agreement since last summer.
AGSEM has been trying to negotiate with McGill since last October but the
administration has systematically stalled talks or simply refused to discuss
most of AGSEM's priority contract demands. Members voted 79 per cent March 31
to give the union's executive a mandate for an unlimited general strike.
    Among others, AGSEM is fighting for better training, a cap on discussion
group sizes, private spaces in which to meet students and a wage hike that
would bring TA salaries to the average of pay at comparable universities in
Canada. But McGill's minimal offers are obviously calculated to insult the
graduate students who shoulder much of the teaching burden at the university.
    "The indifference that McGill is demonstrating toward the working
conditions of its teaching assistants mirrors the lack of concern it has shown
for the quality of education for all students," charged AGSEM President Salim
Ali. "We are on strike today because our members have been pushed to the
limit, and we are prepared to stay out until McGill comes to the table with a
reasonable offer."
    Members of AGSEM, which is affiliated with the Fédération nationale des
enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN), have gained wide support
from the university community. Student groups, professors and campus media
have all expressed concerns that the McGill administration has done almost
nothing to avoid a work stoppage, and, in fact, has encouraged the strike by
bargaining in bad faith.
    A statement posted on the university's website last week clearly
demonstrated that McGill was preparing for a strike and had no intention of
bargaining in good faith during negotiation meetings Saturday and Monday. The
statement also directed professors to complete the work of teaching assistants
in the event of a legal strike, which clearly puts them at risk of legal
remedies under the anti-scabbing measures of Quebec labour law.
    "Members of AGSEM regret the disruptions a strike may cause students at
McGill," said the union's vice-president, Natalie Kouri-Towe. "But most
students know that we are fighting for their education as well. It's up to
McGill to stop taking its teaching assistants and its students for granted."

For further information: Lyle Stewart, CSN Communications Service, (514)
796-2066