Professors vote for 10-day strike mandate at Laval University

On Wednesday, Université Laval lecturers voted 92.6 per cent in favour of a 10-day strike mandate to be called at a time deemed appropriate.

The 1,600 workers have been without a contract since last December. Their union explained that they want to reduce their job insecurity, criticizing university management for wanting to stop allocating all teaching-related tasks on the basis of seniority and competence.

The union adds that when it comes to salaries, the Quebec university offers less than what has been offered to workers in the public sector.

The SCCCUL (Syndicat des chargées et chargés de cours de l'Université Laval) union, which is affiliated with the CSN, said that lecturers provide more than half of undergraduate teaching, but that their salaries account for only 7 per cent of revenue from tuition fees and government funding for university operations.

Union president Louis Emond has criticized university management for proposing only a guaranteed impoverishment of lecturers over the next five years and for perpetuating their precarious status.

Last winter, around 1,300 professors at Université Laval went on strike, which ended after a mediator-conciliator intervened.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 24, 2023.