MONTRÉAL, April 8, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - Teaching Assistants at McGill University, represented by the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), will be on strike on April 16th, the first day of final exams.
Teaching assistants have been in bargaining since August 2014; their demands include a wage increase to keep up with rising cost of living and tuition, and indexation of teaching support funding to undergraduate enrollment. McGill has been unwilling to engage on AGSEM's demands; their financial offer would likely amount to a cut in real wages.
The day's activities will include picket lines on the McGill campus, ending in rally for precarious academic workers across the province, beginning at the Roddick Gates at 3pm.
AGSEM President Justin Irwin says « our members have made their dissatisfaction with McGill's offer clear, and we are prepared to fight for a better and more equitable collective agreement. » McGill has a public commitment to world-class graduate funding and quality undergraduate education, goals that AGSEM maintains their demands would support.
The strike occurs in the context of AGSEM's campaign against austerity. « McGill's attitude towards provincial cuts has been one of happy acquiescence, and AGSEM is ready to push back against that », Irwin added.
AGSEM is a union representing 2000 graduate teaching assistants, and 600 exam invigilators, at McGill University. It is an affiliate of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ) and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN).
SOURCE Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM)
Justin Irwin, [email protected], Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill, 3479 Peel, 3rd floor, H3A 1W7, 514 398 2582, Union Website: tas.agsem-aeedem.ca
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