UQAM lecturers vote to strike amid failed negotiations with the university

UQAM (Universite de Quebec a Montreal). (Daniel J. Rowe/CTV News)

Lecturers who are members of the Syndicat des professeurs enseignants de l'UQAM have voted 90 per cent in favour of a general, unlimited strike to take place at a future date.

Following Wednesday night's vote, union president Olivier Aubry says he believes this move sends a clear message to UQAM's management.

He explains that after 29 negotiation sessions spread over more than a year, talks are still stalled.

The union maintains that the university wants to impose setbacks when it comes to the current collective agreement.

These rollbacks include, according to the union, increasing a lecturer's probationary period, reducing the length of their employment contract and forcing them to lose qualifications to lead a course not taught within the last five years.

One of the key demands of the CSN-affiliated union is that measures be taken to stabilize the jobs of its 2,500 members.

Lecturers are on 15-week long contracts with no job security, yet they teach more than 60 per cent of undergraduate courses, the union argues.

The union says it hopes to change the designation from "lecturer" to "professor," hence its new name.

When it was founded in 1978, the union was named the Syndicat des chargés de cours de l'UQAM.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on March 17, 2022.