Attending Congress 2024?
June 7, 2024
Are you planning to attend the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2024 in Montreal?
As you may be aware, the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL/AMPD) has been on strike since April 24 in an attempt to secure its first ever collective agreement. Despite AMPL/AMPD’s repeated offers to meet with the employer to secure a collective agreement before graduation and before Congress, the McGill administration refused to meet at all between April 24 and June 7.
AMPL/AMPD considers that participation in Congress is crossing a picket line. Nonetheless, it recognizes that it is very difficult for some associations. If you must attend an event on the McGill campus during Congress, AMPL/AMPD requests that you please use a picket pass.
Picket passes will be available with priority for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and non-tenure-track contract academic staff. Members of scholarly associations who have expressed public solidarity with us and minimized their presence on the McGill campus will also be able to obtain picket passes. Individuals who hold picket passes will be deemed not to be crossing picket lines. Attendees at events that are aligned with AMPL’s equity objectives will be issued with picket passes upon request.
For more information, including how to receive a picket pass, AMPL/AMPD has put together an FAQ webpage for Congress participants.
CUASA continues to stand in solidarity with AMPL/AMPD. Earlier this week, following an initial $1,000 Solidarity contribution to the AMPL/AMPD, CUASA authorized an additional $1,000 in recognition of the extraordinary importance of seeing our colleagues succeed in their first contract campaign.
We call on the McGill administration to return to the table and negotiate in good faith with AMPL/AMPD. We also encourage CUASA members attending Congress this year to respect the AMPL/AMPD picket lines – do not attend events on McGill’s campus if possible, and secure a picket pass from AMPL/AMPD if you must. Please contact CUASA’s President, Dominique Marshall at [email protected] before Friday 14 June, if you would like to collect a CUASA flag, badge or poster on campus to bring with you to Montreal.
OCUFA has also expressed solidarity with AMPL/AMPD and has called for the Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences and its member associations to move events of the 2024 Congress off the McGill campus during the strike.
