An Oct. 1 news release from the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL) states that the union and the university have “agreed to a process through which McGill will join all other Quebec universities in recognizing faculty unions that are governed by collective agreements.”
It was also agreed that the university would drop a legal challenge it had launched against the professors’ union certification, which had taken place in late 2022.
To this, the release notes that the two sides agreed to “forge a mechanism through which McGill will drop legal challenges to the certification” of [the AMPL], as well as two “sister faculty unions” — one representing McGill’s professors of education and another representing its faculty of art.
But it is quick to warn that the university will “need to agree to a federated structure” that would place the AMPL and the other faculty unions under the same umbrella when it comes to university-wide policies.
It notes that the suspension of the strike allows McGill law students to return to the classroom — at least for now.
The agreement comes after the university said that the students’ semester would have to be cancelled if the strike continued. Classes are reportedly now scheduled to begin Oct. 3.
Labour talks between McGill and the AMPL have been strained since November 2022, when the latter was certified as a bargaining unit.
However, the AMPL has yet to secure its first-ever collective agreement with the university.
As of last spring, the two sides also had to work out agreements around compensation, support for research and administration and the AMCL’s call for “greater faculty voice in faculty governance.”
These issues will be addressed during mediation with an arbitrator on Oct. 8 and 9, according to an official with the AMPL.
McGill law professor and AMPL president Evan Fox-Decent said in a statement that placing a hold on the current strike is “a win for everyone at McGill.”
“Through our first collective agreement, we will set a pattern that will serve all McGill professors, students and staff into the future,” he said.
In an interview with Law360 Canada, AMPL vice-president Kirsten Anker said she was “cautiously optimistic” that an agreement on federated structure can be reached with the university.
“We had been talking about some kind of federated or joint bargaining across the unions,” said Anker. “Currently, there’s us, but there is also education and arts who have applied for certification.”
Anker said a federated structure would mean that unions would “get … together to agree collectively on … university-wide policies, which would then be incorporated in their collective agreements.”
But she warned that if a deal is not come to in the next week, the law professors could once again hit the picket lines.
“We need some kind of pressure to incentivize the other party to negotiate in good faith. We hope that that won’t happen; we hope that this will turn into a permanent [end] to the strike.”
Administrators at McGill were asked for comment.
“We continue to work to reach an agreement with AMPL and are hopeful it will be accomplished over the next week,” said McGill provost Chris Manfredi in an email.
If you have any information, story ideas or news tips for Law360 Canada, please contact Terry Davidson at t.davidson@lexisnexis.ca or 905-415-5899.