AGSEM

AGSEM Newsletter April 2025

Dear AGSEM members, old and new,

The Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) is the oldest TA union in Quebec. Our members are graduate Teaching Assistants (Unit 1), Invigilators (Unit 2), and Course-Based Academic Casuals (Unit 3) employed at McGill.

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Sign your membership form!

Sign your membership form for every semester that you work as a Unit 1 TA, Unit 2 invigilator, and/or Unit 3 academic casual. You can sign your form here. If you have any issues with the form, try clearing your cache or using an incognito window. If issues persist, let us know at mail@agsem-aeedem.ca and we will troubleshoot!

Winter 2025 Events and Assemblies

Legend: ✊: All units, ☝️Unit 1, ✌️Unit 2, 🤟Unit 3, 🖖Unit 4

AGSEM News

Come to our rally against austerity at McGill!

AGSEM is teaming up with other unions on campus to show McGill that this is a Union University united against austerity! 17 April, 11:30-1:30, we will be grilling up a storm in front of James Admin to make sure McGill knows that we are not going to sit back and watch as they cut OUR pay and hours to retain their $835,274 salaries (yes, this IS a real number). We will have food (vegan and gluten free options available), games, and most importantly, conversations with each other about how we can build power to protect our hard fought and won contracts from cruel and poorly-conceived budget cuts. Remember, McGill works because we do. Solidarity, not austerity.

Unit 3 Negotiations and Open Bargaining Update

Negotiations for Unit 3, which includes graders, course assistants, tutors, graduate teaching fellows, and employees of the McGill Writing Centre began last week on March 27th! The bargaining committee met with representatives from McGill and were joined by by eight other AGSEM workers! You can learn more about this first bargaining session here! 

Our union engages in a practice of open bargaining, where any worker from the unit can attend the session with the goal of maximizing union democracy and transparency among the membership. The next two bargaining sessions are April 11th and May 2nd, and we would love to have more Unit 3 members join us in the room! If you are interested in attending one of these bargaining sessions or any future sessions, please sign up and a member of the bargaining support committee will reach out**!** 

If you have any questions in general regarding negotiations for Unit 3, feel free to reach out to bargaining.casual3@agsem-aeedem.ca for more information.

Occupational Health and Safety Survey

Do you know what to do if there’s a fire while running a conference? What about a student seizure while leading a lab? The Union is gathering information on TA and Invigilator Health and Safety Training to fight for a safer workplace for you. Please take five minutes to fill out our short survey; all scenarios come from real situations that happened in Canadian Universities in the past five years. All TAs and invigilators in all faculties are encouraged to participate :) 

As always, if there are ever any issues with Health and Safety in your workplace, such as hazardous conditions, workplace injuries, or more, don’t hesitate to reach out to Connor at healthandsafety@agsem-aeedem.ca. We’re here to help!

In the Community

Victory for CREW!

Following a successful strike and a strong 70% ratification vote, CREW members have secured a powerful new Collective Agreement. Wins include a 20% raise over the life of the contract, retroactive pay, and the first-ever indexation system tying TA hours to student enrollment. We also strengthened protections around discrimination, retaliation, and health and safety. We’re now back at work under an adjusted workload — members should ensure they aren’t working beyond their paid hours. Strike benefits are on the way for eligible members. Huge thanks to everyone who picketed, rallied, and showed up — this win belongs to all of us! ✊

Want to get in touch? Contact @crew.csn or visit crew-csn.com.

Alliance Ouvrière Week of Action and Economic Disruption

From April 27 to May 3, join the Week of Action and Economic Disruption organized by Alliance Ouvrière! ✊ This is a call to mobilize in the fight for workers’ rights and economic justice.

Want to get involved or learn more? Message @alliance.ouvriere on Instagram to participate!

Survey Regarding the Use of Artificial Intelligence from the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ CSN):

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly present within the education and higher education networks, influencing the way employees work and their working conditions.

To better understand the extent of its deployment, the issues it raises and union practices in this area, the CSN federations which represent members in education and higher education are inviting you to respond to this short, anonymous ten-minute survey.

Your answers will provide the CSN and its affiliated organizations with an accurate portrait of the current situation while enabling unions to defend workers’ interests as they are increasingly confronted with this technological transformation. Thank you for your participation!