(Montreal – November 8, 2021).
For the first time in its 200-year history, a group of McGill professors has petitioned the Tribunal administratif du travail to be recognized under the Quebec Labour Code as a bargaining unit with authority to pursue a collective agreement. A supermajority of professors from the Faculty of Law has signed membership cards to allow the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL) to act as their members’ exclusive bargaining agent.
“We call on McGill University to stop wasting government funding, student fees and alumni donations litigating against one of its prized faculties,” says Evan Fox-Decent, interim President of AMPL. “We organized to protect the Law Faculty’s distinctive teaching and research culture, its bilingualism, and to advance our collective desire to ensure equity and diversity for the benefit of our community. We want to give faculty members a voice in shaping decisions that impact not only faculty—but also students, instructors, staff and alumni.”
Inspired by independent faculty associations such as those representing professors of engineering at the University of Sherbrooke (Association des ingénieurs-professeurs en sciences appliquées), and professors of law at Osgoode Hall Law School (Osgoode Hall Faculty Association), AMPL views collective representation at the faculty level as indispensable to preserve its faculty’s local self-governance.
“The purpose of our faculty association is to uphold the mission and collegiality of our Law Faculty,” says Richard Janda, interim Secretary of AMPL. “Law is the top-ranked faculty at McGill internationally because it has governed itself as a vibrant intellectual community. Collective representation will mean greater democracy and transparency in the governance of our faculty, strengthening the rule of law in our workplace while providing greater autonomy for the faculty to pursue academic excellence.”
AMPL is committed to defending the authority of McGill Law’s Faculty Council to govern its members’ teaching, research and service to the broader intellectual community.
Faculty self-governance and collective representation is the norm within Québec and Canadian universities. The creation of AMPL rests legally on the right of freedom of association. This right has long been recognized by international law and by Canadian courts in decisions addressing s. 2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Evan Fox-Decent, evanfoxdecent@gmail.com, 514-802-5362.
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