UQAM lecturers on strike Monday, unless an agreement is reached before then

One of the pavilions at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), photographed on Nov. 14, 2017. (The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)

The 2,100 lecturers at UQAM have announced that they will go on strike on Monday morning unless the parties reach a settlement.

Last-ditch negotiations are due to take place at the end of the week to try to avoid a strike, which would last indefinitely, said Olivier Aubry, president of the Syndicat des professeures et professeurs enseignants de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, in an interview on Thursday.

“There will be negotiations this weekend. We, the union, will be making a global offer on Saturday morning. And we hope to have an agreement as soon as possible before Monday morning. But to reach an agreement, UQAM will also have to put more on the table than what is currently on the table and meet our demands,” Aubry said.

Specifically, the aim is not to renegotiate the entire collective agreement but only the aspects of 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 remains in force until Dec 31.

Aubry points out that his members are demanding, for example, monetary compensation for online teaching. “We want compensation for the extra workload associated with online teaching. Before the pandemic, it was clear from the studies that online teaching was about 30 per cent more work than face-to-face courses,” he says.

The union also has demands regarding the size of online course groups.

“We are well aware of the union’s demands, having held 22 negotiating sessions to date, 13 of which were attended by a ministry of labour conciliator. UQAM management has tabled a number of global offers since the spring of 2024,” the university management said.

The parties do not agree on the extent of online teaching within the institution.

The union maintains that “nearly 25 per cent of the institution’s courses and more than 60 per cent of courses in certain departments are delivered online.”

The administration presents a very different picture. “According to our most recent data (2023-2024), 11 per cent of courses at UQAM are delivered entirely online. The other courses are offered in hybrid or co-modal formats, or, for the vast majority (74 per cent), in person.”

“Under our regulations, program committees—made up of faculty members and students—determine the course format (in-person, online, co-modal, or hybrid) in collaboration with the relevant departments. This collegial process is a core value of UQAM,” the administration said.

The union, which is part of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec, affiliated with the CSN, represents part-time lecturers and internship supervisors.