After promising for more than three months to meet with the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL), McGill senior administrators withdrew and refused to negotiate with the union, the AMPL says.
The union says that their demands could be addressed through a few days of negotiations, but McGill refuses to engage.
“Our issues have to do with whether faculty – the experts in their fields – should decide what an academic program should contain or administrators who are far away from teaching,” said Kirsten Anker, McGill Law professor and AMPL Vice-President.
According to a press release, McGill is actively trying to decertify the AMPL and is fighting two other faculty unions, the Association of McGill Professors of Education, and the Association of McGill Professors of the Faculty of Arts.
McGill asked for binding arbitration, but the union says it won’t protect faculty interests.
“The lesson that McGill has pounded into us, is that unless we are prepared – against our training and desires – to put student education at risk, McGill will not respond,” said McGill Law professor and AMPL secretary Richard Janda. “It is shameful that McGill is so cavalier with students’ wellbeing and education in direct contradiction to its claims of advancing education.”
McGill students are still required to pay their school fees by Aug. 30.
“Many of us have moved from far away, left our jobs, and signed leases and are now being asked to pay school fees for a term that may not occur,” said incoming law student Kate Pundyk. “It is shocking that McGill would choose not to attend negotiations, despite knowing how much students have invested, both professionally and financially, to be part of this institution.”