The strike ends at Université Laval. Management and the teachers’ union accepted the arbitrator’s settlement proposal on Wednesday, ending the conflict that has been going on for five weeks. The return to class can be on Friday or Monday at the latest.
At the end of the evening, after an extraordinary meeting, the Université Laval Board of Directors finally approved the settlement recommendation that officially ended this strike that had started on January 20th.
In the afternoon, members of the teachers’ union (SPUL) approved the agreement by 93%, which provides for an average wage increase of almost 16% over three years.
In addition, from 2027, a procedure will be introduced to ensure equal pay with colleagues at the Université de Montréal and its affiliated schools, minus a 2.25% correction of their remuneration. Last year, the salary difference between the professors of these two institutions was 9.3%.
“The topic of catching up on salaries with comparable universities has been an issue for years. This principle is now recognized and is a big step forward,” affirmed SPUL President Louis-Philippe Lampron.
job floor
The employment base will also increase to 1,360 jobs by 2026, equivalent to 80 additional hires, while the union was asking for 100.
Also, a revised formula for calculating this employment floor now excludes retired contract teachers, so the net increase in the number of jobs will be closer to 93, the union says.
In questions of academic freedom for professors, all references to the duty of loyalty and decency from the collective agreement, which is to run until 2027, will be deleted.
The type of courses – online or face-to-face – will still be decided by the program committee, but the members will be elected by the assembly of professors of each unit.
A teacher can also refuse to give a course if the teaching methods do not suit him.
Back to class no later than Monday
For its part, the management confirms that the courses will “ideally” be resumed on Friday, March 31, or “at the latest” on Monday, April 3, 2023.
Laval University will hold a press conference this Thursday on plans for settlement and continuity.
The strike will be suspended on Thursday morning, but the day will be devoted to meetings to set the conditions for returning to classes in each unit.
“The goal is to offer a plan adapted to each course, allowing students to achieve the objectives set in the lesson plans,” says the return to the class plan, agreed between the two parties and obtained by Le Journal.
The professors are free to propose the conditions for re-admission, but they must show flexibility to take into account the restrictions of specific students (internship, summer semester, graduation, end of residence permit, etc.). Students can “exceptionally” apply for accommodation “for serious reasons,” we add.
At least two performance records must be kept for each course.
Changes to the lesson plan must be approved by a majority of students in the first lesson after the strike. Laval University has already opened the door to extending the session beyond April 30.
About 40% of the courses offered on campus were affected by this strike, which may have been the longest since the strike that led to the formation of SPUL in 1976.
– With the collaboration of Jean-François Racine