The Tribune
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14 2025 | VOL. 44 | ISSUE 14
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
FEATURE
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
OFF THE BOARD
Curiosity in crisis
What we liked this winter break
I’ve had enough of yearning
Language, literature, and “What the hell are you going to do with that degree!?” PGS. 8-9
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THETRIBUNE.CA | @THETRIBUNECA
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(Armen Erzingatzian / The Tribune) Tribune)
School of Continuing Studies becomes McGill’s fourth faculty union AMASCS joins the confederation of existing faculty unions to collectively bargain with the university NEWS
Shani Laskin Managing Editor
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n a less than 60-day process, on Dec. 31, Quebec’s Tribunal Administratif du Travail certified the Association of McGill Academic Staff of the School of Continuing Studies (AMASCS), forging the fourth faculty union at McGill. The School of Continuing Studies (SCS) marks the first faculty to bid for unionization following a Memorandum of Understand-
ing (MoU) from Oct. 6 between McGill and the university’s inaugural union, the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL). The MoU brought an end to over 13 weeks of AMPL strikes which delayed the start of the law faculty’s Fall term by over a month. In return, McGill dropped its contestation efforts of AMPL’s certification and abandoned efforts to block the certification of two other faculty unions—the Association of McGill Professors of Education (AMPE) and the Association of McGill
Professors of the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA). Another central aspect of the MoU was the agreement to form a confederation for collective bargaining between faculty unions and McGill. According to the McGill Media Relations Office, the confederation would “establish a grouping of unions to negotiate university-wide working conditions for instructors.” Under this system, faculty-specific issues would be negotiated with individual unions, whereas broader issues would be negotiated across the entire confederation. PG. 2
OPINION In the wake of Trudeau’s McGill does not contest the latest faculty union certification: resignation, U.S. political polarization A shift or merely an exception? should serve as a cautionary tale
EDITORIAL
The Tribune Editorial Board
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n Jan. 2, the Tribunal administratif du travail certified the Association of McGill Academic Staff of the School of Continuing Studies (AMASCS)
as McGill’s fourth faculty union. AMASCS is the first instance of faculty unionization that McGill did not contest in court—a pivotal moment for the unions, who have faced protracted, embattled paths toward certification over the past few years.
In April of last year, the Association of the McGill Professors of Law (AMPL) went on an indefinite strike to protest stalled negotiations over a collective agreement (CA) with McGill that would protect faculty governance, pay, and PG. 5 work conditions.
Ellen Lurie Opinion Editor
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widely unpopular progressive party leader, having unsuccessfully attempted to fend off a populist conservative challenger, is forced to step down for the sake of his party’s re-election pros-
pects. Wait, who are we talking about? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation on Jan. 6, 2025 shares eerie resemblance with former U.S. President Joe Biden’s choice to step down this past July. Both represent an attempt to distance the two parties from the poor image
voters have of their soon-to-beformer leaders. Americans now know that Biden’s decision to step down from the position of Democratic Party nominee was neither sufficiently impactful nor well-timed enough to win former Vice President Kamala Harris the 2024 U.S. PresidenPG. 6 tial Election.