The McGill University Law Professors' Association accuses the university, which is trying to strip the union of its accreditation, of refusing to negotiate in good faith by delaying the process and failing to attend bargaining sessions.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
McGill University law professors, who have been trying to negotiate their first collective bargaining agreement with the university in nearly two years, will go on strike again on Monday before the start of the academic year.
The Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL), registered in November 2022, held a two-month strike in the spring. The professors are demanding better pay and more involvement in the administration of the faculty.
AMPL accuses the university, which is trying to withdraw the union's accreditation, of refusing to negotiate in good faith by delaying the process and failing to attend bargaining meetings.
Kirsten Anker, associate professor and vice president of AMPL, said in an interview that the university had left the union no choice but to resume the strike. She said 43 AMPL members would participate in the industrial action.
“We are extremely concerned about the impact on students,” said Dr. Anker. “But at the same time, we saw that a strike in April, May and June, when we avoided a disruption of the semester, had very little impact on McGill,” she said.
An orientation day was planned for first-year law students on Monday, while for others the start of classes was scheduled for Wednesday.
In a press release announcing the strike, AMPL said it had sufficient resources to sustain the strike throughout the academic year.
Julien Bérubé, vice-president of the McGill Law Students' Association (LSA), said the industrial action had already taken a toll on students, with the consequences of delayed grades due to the earlier strike meaning they could no longer apply for or renew loans and scholarships, be passed over in job searches and international students had problems with their immigration status.
Mr Bérubé said it had been difficult for the LSA to prepare for the possibility of another strike. “We are left pretty much in the dark,” he said in an interview. “The government doesn't seem to have a plan. We've repeatedly asked what would happen and we haven't gotten any real answers.”
The AMPL website states that salaries for law professors at McGill lag far behind those at comparable institutions such as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. Full professors earned an average of more than $300,000 at the University of Toronto in 2023-24, compared to less than $200,000 at McGill.
At the same time, salaries of administrative staff have increased much faster, according to AMPL. The salary of the dean of the law school increased by 65 percent between 2017 and 2022, while professors' salaries increased by 7 percent over the same period.
The union is demanding better compensation to bring it on par with other top law schools, adjusted for local living costs, and salary increases above inflation. It is also demanding a say in the selection of the school's dean and the establishment of committees to deal with merit pay and research issues, as well as other governance issues.
By last June, AMPL and McGill had held more than 20 rounds of negotiations, most of them with a mediator. In July, Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet referred the dispute to arbitration. The union opposed the arbitration and asked the Supreme Court to stay it, which the court refused in an August 16 ruling. Hearings on McGill's request to revoke the union's accreditation are scheduled for December.
In an unsigned email on Wednesday, McGill said it had “acted in good faith” throughout the process but “does not believe further mediation discussions will lead to a resolution.” The university said Thursday that the labor minister had appointed an arbitrator, lawyer Jean Allard.
“We look forward to working with Maître Allard to resolve outstanding issues with AMPL and focus on minimizing the impact of the dispute on students,” McGill said. The university did not respond to questions about sticking points in the negotiations or why it wants to revoke the union's accreditation.
Dr. Anker said the union is still hoping to reach an agreement and avoid prolonging the dispute. “We're just asking them to come to the bargaining table,” Dr. Anker said of McGill. “If we see them come to the bargaining table in good faith, that might actually be enough to end the strike.”
