UQAM lecturers avoid strike, reach agreement in principle

By The Canadian Press

Over 2,000 Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) lecturers won’t be going on strike Monday – as their union reached an agreement in principle with management during negotiations regarding online learning.

UQAM lecturers, members of the Syndicat des professeures et professeur enseignants de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, threatened to undertake an unlimited strike on Monday morning.

But at the end of a final round of negotiations, which took place over the weekend, both parties reached an agreement in principle, on the night of Sunday to Monday. The strike call was therefore cancelled and classes were to be held according to the usual schedule.

The content of this agreement has not been revealed publicly and will not be until it is presented to the lecturers.

In a brief press release, UQAM management confirmed that this agreement put an end to the threat of a strike. It welcomed the conclusion of this agreement, which was “satisfactory for both parties.”

For its part, the union spoke of an “intensive weekend of negotiations.” It said its members would be called to a general meeting in the coming days to decide on the content of the agreement.

The current negotiation does not cover the entire collective agreement, but only the aspects relating to online teaching. These were the subject of a letter of understanding between the parties.

The collective agreement as a whole has already been renewed and is still in force until December 31.

The lecturers demanded, among other things, monetary compensation for online teaching and also had demands regarding the size of online course groups.

However, the two parties did not agree on the extent of the phenomenon of online teaching within the institution today.

The union, attached to the Fédération nationale des enseignant(e)s du Québec, affiliated with the CSN, represents lecturers and internship supervisors.

Members of the Syndicat des professeures et professeurs enseignants de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, attached to the Fédération nationale de l’enseignement, affiliated with the CSN, will vote on this agreement in principle “in the coming days.”

In the meantime, the union did not want to reveal the content of the tentative agreement, preferring to keep it first for its members – as is usually the case in such circumstances.

The university’s administration “is pleased with the conclusion of this agreement, which is satisfactory to both parties,” it said in a statement.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews

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