Bargaining Update #7
The AMUSE bargaining team met in person with McGill again on June 19th for another day of bargaining.
We started the day by finalizing and signing the open bargaining protocol. This document sets out ground rules for members attending the sessions as observers. We continue to bring observers each session, and encourage members who are interested to join us. We’ll be posting more details soon about what it’s like to attend with some testimonies from members who have attended already.
The AMUSE bargaining team tabled counter-proposals for Articles 9 (General Provisions) and 37 (Technological Change). Much of the discussion on Article 9 continued to be focused on the info McGill provides the union through our monthly member lists.
As we shared in our last update, the Employer continues to maintain that it cannot legally provide AMUSE with information about members’ gender, student status, or whether a position is work-study due to privacy legislation. AMUSE’s position remains that this is not the case. Our legal counsel from the PSAC agrees that while the Employer does have a duty to protect personal data, current legislation allows this information to be shared with the union for the purposes of administering the collective agreement, and ensuring AMUSE members’ rights are protected, ideally proactively as well.
The Employer did agree to provide us with members’ total hours worked, but continues to refuse on other points. We also pointed out that this information is given to other McGill unions, but not to AMUSE. In response, the Employer indicated that it did not wish to compare AMUSE's collective agreement to those of other McGill unions, despite all unions bargaining with the same Employer.
We continued discussions on Article 37, where AMUSE has proposed updating the article to explicitly address artificial intelligence alongside technological change. This is something that AMUSE members have defined as extremely important to them. If you’d like to express your thoughts on this matter, please feel free to email the team at bargaining@amusepsac.org - We also have an anonymous survey that can be filled out here: https://forms.gle/JuJAQqfD3ubUpx3v6
The Employer called a caucus shortly before noon, and after lunch time, told us they were not ready. They advised they would return on July 6th, with responses to our proposals.
Next bargaining dates are:
July 6th 9-4pm
July 23rd 9-4pm
We plan to discuss the following articles:
ARTICLE 16 – ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES AND DISMISSAL
ARTICLE 17 – EMPLOYEE FILES
Would you like to attend one of the sessions above, or have questions about what it’s like to attend? We’d love to chat! Reach out to our staffer Tricia at outreach@amusepsac.org for a phone call, and she will give you a rundown on attending, and what it’s like, so you can figure out if you’re interested.
Union lingo that might be new to you:
Open Bargaining: A bargaining/negotiation model where members can attend sessions as observers.
Tentative Agreement: When a union and employer agree on the wording of an article during bargaining. It does not become part of the collective agreement until the full collective agreement is ratified by the membership, via a vote at a general meeting.
