McGill’s Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) convened for their first meeting of the academic year in the ballroom of Thomson House on Sept. 10, where they discussed their plans for the months to come and reported on how they prepared for these goals over the summer. The meeting began as Zoe[Read More…]
Tag: AGSEM
McGill seeking a public relations agency for rebranding support
McGill is expected to select a public relations agency this September to help it carry out a rebranding campaign, attempting to reposition how the Quebec government and McGill’s students and donors perceive the university. The potential rebranding deal could cost McGill up to $6.7 million CAD. Student protests, tuition hikes,[Read More…]
AGSEM’s Academic Casuals unit holds first negotiation meeting with McGill
Representatives from Unit 3 of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) sat down with the university on March 27 for the first time to negotiate a collective agreement (CA). Unit 3 represents Academic Casual workers such as tutors, graders, course assistants, and graduate teaching fellows. AGSEM’s Units[Read More…]
AGSEM member still awaiting recourse for McGill security alleged assault in December
On Dec. 11, a member of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) alleges security officers forcibly detained her in the McConnell Engineering Building for taking a picture of armed agents there. Reportedly, the member has yet to receive communication from McGill about recourse. In a written statement[Read More…]
AGSEM experiences negotiation delay for Unit 3 union members
On Nov. 27, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) elected a bargaining committee to negotiate on behalf of Unit 3, representing over 250 members. Unit 3 is composed of “course-based academic casuals,” which include graders, course assistants, and graduate teaching fellows. Unit 3 is separate from AGSEM’s[Read More…]
McGill does not contest the latest faculty union certification: A shift or merely an exception?
On Dec. 31, the Tribunal administratif du travail certified the Association of McGill Academic Staff of the School of Continuing Studies (AMASCS) as McGill’s fourth faculty union. AMASCS is the first instance of faculty unionization that McGill did not contest in court—a pivotal moment for the unions, who have faced[Read More…]
McGill projects $37 million CAD deficit by 2028 due to government tuition changes, budget cuts
Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) Christopher Manfredi hosted a virtual town hall on McGill’s finances and the 2024-2025 budget on Nov. 19, addressing the university’s growing fiscal challenges. The meeting discussed McGill’s projected $37 million CAD deficit by fiscal year 2028, driven by governmental pressures on enrollment-driven revenue, including a[Read More…]
McGill is leading in research but lagging in workers’ rights
McGill is continually ranked as a top research university in Canada, recently coming in second for medical research. Despite this status, the school consistently fails to adequately recognize the rights of its workers. From pushing its teaching assistants (TAs) to a hard strike for livable wages to undermining its law[Read More…]
McGill must confront its reliance on SPVM’s racist policing
Historically, police units have been known to target unhoused, queer, transgender, disabled, mentally ill, lower-income, Indigenous, Black, and other marginalized communities. Unhoused individuals sleeping on a park bench in Montreal can get fined up to $1000 CAD. Atif Siddiqi, who is transgender, alleged that the police laughed at them when[Read More…]
TAs urge McGill to uphold contract at back-to-school rally
Call-and-response chants of “Union! Power!” punctuated the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM)’s back-to-school rally on Sept. 4. AGSEM, the union representing teaching assistants (TAs), exam invigilators, and Academic Casuals such as graders and tutors at McGill, held the event to mark their full return to instruction after[Read More…]
