TA DELEGATE
TRAINING MANUAL
Fall 2013
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Contents
AGSEM Contact Info...................................................................................................................................... 3
AGSEM – Background: Know your Union ..................................................................................................... 4
AGSEM Unit 1 & 2 Structure & Decision-making Bodies .............................................................................. 6
Delegate Duties ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Grievances..................................................................................................................................................... 8
Collective Agreements .................................................................................................................................. 9
The CSN Rules of Order Demystified .......................................................................................................... 13
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AGSEM Contact Info
General email address [email protected]
514-398-2582
3479 rue Peel, 3rd Floor/3e étage
Montréal, QC H3A 1W7
Website: www.tas.agsem.ca
Social Media:
Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/11208242361/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AGSEM/718543241493989
Twitter: @AGSEM_AEEDEM
BC Twitter: @TAbargaining
AGSEM Executive Committee (Unit 1 and 2)
Sunci Avlijas, Vice-President
[email protected]
Joseph Sannicandro, Communications and Mobilization Officer
[email protected]
Amalia Slobogian, Grievance Officer (TAs)
[email protected]
James Burnett, Grievance Officer (Invigilators)
[email protected]
Benjamin Elgie, TA Bargaining Chair
[email protected]
Chief Delegates:
Justin Irwin [email protected]
Katie Pagnucco [email protected]
Emilija Cvetanovska [email protected]
Fateme Mollaei (Invigilator Chief Delegate) [email protected]
Amandeep Singh (Mac Campus Chief Delegate) [email protected]
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AGSEM – Background: Know your Union
Why did we form a Union? The MTAA:
In 1974, the McGill Teaching Assistant Association (MTAA) was founded by McGill Graduate
Students. While it was not legally certified as a Labour Union, the MTAA's activists, with very
serious concerns, succeeded in forcing McGill to begin negotiating. In 1976 MTAA held an 8 day
strike and temporarily won major concessions from McGill: a base pay rate for all TAs, cost of
living increases and a maximum 12-hour workweek; all nearly three decades before any other
TA union was founded in Québec, but setting basic standards other Universities were forced to
live up to. Also among the first demands were efforts that would improve undergraduate
education, with TA training and a lower TA to student ratio.
Despite major victories, the MTAA's history was difficult, and McGill often went back on deals it
agreed to. In 1980s, graduate student activists concerned about the situation faced by Teaching
Assistants began discussions about legal certification as a union, partly as a response to
changing labour law in Québec. After conducting a survey of TA working conditions and
producing a report, the PGSS established the Teaching Assistants' Organizing Committee
(TAOC), considering unionization necessary but challenging. In 1992, the Association of
Graduate Students Employed at McGill was founded by the TAOC, and it began a card-signing
campaign to become certified with the CSN (a major labour union federation in Québec). In
1993, the campaign succeeded, and AGSEM began negotiations for its first collective bargaining
agreement as a certified union.
What were the benefits of Unionizing? A look at the TA Collective Agreements:
With unionized TAs outside of Québec setting labour standards much higher than those at
McGill, McGill's offers did not meet AGSEM's demands. After three years of zero progress, in
1996, AGSEM held the second strike of teaching assistants in Québec - this time, as a legal
Labour Union. While a first contract was only finally reached in 1998, the strike set a very
important precedent. The first Collective Agreement addressed limits to workload and helped
bring TAs salary parity -the lowest pay rate at the time was $7 for Anatomy TAs, while the
highest-paid Arts TAs made $18.13. Negotiations for the second contract, in the early 2000s,
went relatively quickly. For the third contract, however, additional demands began to arise.
Among others, TAs were concerned that many more hours were often being worked than were
being paid. Negotiations in 2007 demanded that all hours worked be paid, as well as the
massive pay increases which would be required to bring McGill's wages on par with those of
universities like the University of Toronto or the University of Ottawa. A very difficult twomonth strike in 2008, while not accomplishing everything, won very important rights for TAs,
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including a significant pay increase and the workload form. We signed our fourth Collective
Agreement last December. Its most significant progress was paid training for TAs and a clause
stating that no TAship should be less than 45 hours under normal circumstances. The next
Collective Agreement will be negotiated starting in the summer of 2014, so we are currently
preparing our next Bargaining Proposal.
What about Invigilators?
After 2 years of Negotiations, including Arbitration, the Unit 2 Bargaining Committee will be
signing the first Invigilator Collective Agreement on October 7th 2013. Once it comes into effect,
Invigilators will benefit from a number of clauses including: paid training for first-time
invigilators, paid 15 minute breaks, public postings for al invigilator positions, hiring priority for
experienced invigilators, leave without loss of priority status, paid bereavement leave, vacation
pay, and most importantly access to the grievance process and Union representation when
issues arise. Because this first collective agreement was bargaining in Arbitration we made only
modest advances in the pay rate. For this reason, the contract was purposely only signed for 2
years, to allow us to demand a better salary increase at the next negotiations- in 2015.
U- Drives
As the name indicates, "AGSEM" (the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill”
was originally intended to represent all graduate students who work at McGill. In April 2010, an
important step forward was taken when AGSEM successfully unionized nearly a thousand exam
invigilators. A year and a half later, in August 2011, Course Lecturers and Instructors were
Unionized after two decades of failed attempts. Last year AGSEM decided that the unionization
of Graders at McGill would be beneficial to our members and graders themselves.
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AGSEM Unit 1 & 2 Structure & Decision-making Bodies
AGSEM is an autonomous union affiliated with the CSN, FNEEQ and CCMM. All decision-making
takes place at the local level. Our highest decision-making body is the General Assembly, where
every member has an equal vote and right to speak.
The direction of the solid arrows indicates the ability to give mandates (excluding Bargainingrelated). The dashed arrows indicate the ability to mandate bargaining-related decisions.
TA &
INVIGILATOR
TA
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
Invigilator
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
Delegate
Council
Union
committees
Executive Committee
TA Bargaining
Committee
VP
Grievance (TAs)
Grievance (Inv.)
Communications
CSN
FNEEQ
CCMM
Inv. Bargaining
Committee
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Delegate Duties
(See Chapter 3 of the Unit 1 and 2 Bylaws for a full list of duties)
1. Ensure that our members’ rights are respected.

Complete and submit to the union the TA verification forms for their hiring unit

Ensure that newly hired TAs and Invigilators are given their membership forms
and copies of the collective agreement by the department

Provide information and resources to any members encountering issues in their
workplace, and if necessary put them in touch with the Grievance Officer
2. Inform the Grievance Officer of any violation of the Collective Agreement in their hiring
unit.
3. Attend monthly Delegate Council meetings and General Assemblies (typically one per
semester).
4. Inform members in their hiring unit of the decisions made by the Delegates Council, and
defend their members’ viewpoint(s) in the Delegates Council.
5. Personally (via email or other means) inform members they represent of all Union
events, surveys, upcoming elections or meetings and other communications. This is
especially important for notices of all General Assemblies.
6. Maintain the AGSEM Bulletin Board for their Hiring Unit.
7. Ensure that a successor is elected prior to term completion and to transmit to the
successor all the properties of the union in her possession, including the email account,
as well as all pertinent information or documentation.
Honorarium: each delegate who completes the minimum requirements as decided by Delegate
Council, will receive a $75 honorarium for each semester they serve as a delegate (including the
summer semester).
All delegates are given an agsem delegate email account. You must use this account when
communicating with members regarding grievances, it is the only way we can guarantee the
level of confidentiality we are required to maintain by law.
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Grievances
The TA and Invigilator Collective Agreements are on our website. (See article 8 for grievance
procedure).
We approach workplace problems with a cooperative spirit and commitment to problem
solving. This is by no means to suggest however, that we do not take every complaint
seriously; as a union our first priority is always ensuring the rights of our members.
If you receive a complaint from a TA: Your first and most important responsibility is to listen
carefully to the TA and assure them that you will do everything you can to answer their
questions and help them to resolve any conflict. This may simply be a case of informing them
of their rights through referral to a particular section of the Collective Agreement, it may
involve supporting them through a discussion with the course instructor or hiring coordinator,
or it may involve referring them to an AGSEM executive (usually the Grievance Officer in the
case of complaints and potential breaches of the Collective Agreement).
We will never file a grievance on behalf of a TA or Invigilator if they do not wish to go forward
with it. Therefore members are encouraged to contact us to ask questions and get all the
information they need before deciding whether to proceed with their complaint.
Steps in the Grievance Process:
1. The Complaint Stage (optional)
Informal problem-solving process. A meeting is set up with the TA /Invigilator and their
supervisor. We recommend a Union representative familiar with the Collective Agreement be
present at such meetings.
2. Filing the Grievance
Within 20 working days of knowledge of the occurrence giving rise to the grievance we must
file the grievance with Human Resources. The Chair or the Faculty Dean will reply within 20
days.
3. If the response of the Chair or Faculty Dean does not resolve the issue, we must file for
Arbitration within 30 working days following the receipt of the response. The complaint will be
settled by an Arbitrator (from the Ministry of Labour).
IMPORTANT NOTE: A member has the right to attend all grievance hearings at any step.
Likewise, they are entitled to be accompanied by a Union representative (usually you, and/ or
the Grievance Officer) to any grievance or discipline-related meeting.
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Collective Agreements
Please familiarize yourself with the Collective Agreement(s) relevant to the members you
represent and know where to find a copy of it. Every TA should be provided with a hard copy
from their hiring unit, let us know if this is not the case. The Collective Agreement is also
accessible on the AGSEM website at: http://tas.agsem-aeedem.ca/documents/ta-collectiveagreement/
TA Collective Agreement Highlights:
Issue/ Area of
concern
Relevant
Article of
the
Collective
Agreement
Details
If and when to contact
the Grievance Officer
TA
qualifications
Article 2.11
A TA must be a currently registered
graduate student at McGill
Notify G.O. in case of a
hire who is not a
current grad student
Sickness and
Leaves of
Absence
Article 16
TAs are entitled to a number of paid
and unpaid leaves. There should not
be any negative repercussions for
going on leave. If a TA is sick, they
should notify their supervisor, and the
work should be rescheduled if
possible, but in no case should TAs
lose pay for missing work due to
short-term illness. TAs are entitled to
unpaid leave to attend academic
conferences as required by their
thesis supervisor.
Notify GO if a TA is
experiencing
disciplinary actions for
going on a leave, or
losing pay for sick days.
# of hours of a Article
TAship
11.02.01,
A full time TAship is 180 hours for one
semester; the union generally does
not consent to fractional
appointments of less than 45 hours
and unless an explicit exemption has
Notify G.O of any
fractional
appointments of less
than 45 hrs per
semester, or if a TA has
and
Article
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Workload
forms
11.02. 02
been given, no TA should be assigned
more than 180 hours.
been assigned more
than 180 hours.
Article
11.02.03,
and
The workload and how hours will be
allocated is negotiated between the
TA and the course supervisor. The
workload form must be signed at the
start of the semester, and reassessed
mid-term. If the TA has reason to
believe that the assigned duties can’t
be completed in the hours specified,
they should contact their supervisor
immediately. A meeting should be set
up in case of disagreements (See
section 11.04). A union rep can be
invited to sit in on the meeting.
Notify G.O. in the case
of issues not able to be
resolved with the
course supervisor.
TAs are responsible for providing all
information re. work permits, banking
etc as required, to their hiring unit
and on Minerva. TAs should receive
their first pay cheque no later than 1
month from the beginning of their
TAship, and be paid by direct deposit
every two weeks thereafter.
Notify G.O if the
university is failing to
pay a TA (who has
provided all required
information), as per
17.01 of the Collective
Agreement
Any cases where a TA feels they are
subjected to Discrimination or
harassment must be filed within 90
days of the last incidence of the
alleged harassment, so timing is very
important.
Notify the G.O.
immediately
Article
11.04
Salary and
getting paid
Article
17.01
Discrimination Article 6
& harassment
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Appointment Lists and the Verification Form
1. You should receive a tentative list of TA appointments in your hiring unit within thirty
days after the application deadline.
You should check the list includes the following:
 Hiring Unit name
 TA name
 Indication of whether they are part (of category 2) of the priority pool
 The Course Title and number
 Total Hours of the appointment
 TA’s degree and year, and in case they are PhD 5 students, an indication of
whether they started their program as PhD1 or PhD2
 Email address of the TA
 Course Supervisor name
2. Before sending notifications of appointment to TAs, the Hiring Unit must consult with
you about the appointments and provide clarifications if necessary. You should use the
verification form as a guide to help you check that the priority pool rules and other
Collective Agreement rules have been followed. Important things to look out for are:

All TAs must be graduate students
 Priority pool is being respected (you will have access to TA applications in order to verify
whether TAs have TAed before, and the appointment list will tell you their degree and
year)
 TAs are not given priority for more than one appointment
 There are no appointments of less than 45 hours per semester
Following your review of the appointments, you should forward the tentative list and to the
Grievance Officer. The list should be emailed to the Grievance Officer as soon as you have
checked it (i.e. within one week of receiving it) because the clock for filing a grievance (20
working days) starts ticking the moment you receive the list. If this process needs to be
delayed for any reason, you must notify the Grievance Officer or VP immediately of the
circumstances. You should also submit the verification form answers online through the form
provided.
Please see the Collective Agreement, Article 13.03.03.
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Invigilator Collective Agreement Highlights
1. Postings and Appointments
All invigilation positions must be publically posted on a centralized website (such as CaPS),
bulletin board, or hiring unit website. All postings must also be sent to AGSEM, which we will
post on our website.
Interested candidates can apply for final exam postings for 7 days after they are posted, or 5
days for midterms. They will be notified about the result of your application at least 2 weeks
before the start of final exams, or 5 days before midterms. If they are are offered a position,
they must sign and return the contract within 5 days for final exams, or within 2 days for any
other position.
Previous invigilation experience at McGill gives candidates hiring priority. Top hiring priority is
given to those who have passed their probation period in the hiring unit by being continuously
employed for more than 2 terms. Next, priority is given to those with any previous experience
in the hiring unit, then to those with experience invigilating elsewhere at McGill
2. Shift length and breaks
All invigilation shifts need to be at least one hour longer than the length of the exam (4 hours
for a 3-hour final exam). If the Invigilator has not received training before their your first shift,
they must also be given time before the start of your shift for training.
Unless unusual circumstances make it impossible to do so, Invigilators must be given a 15minute paid break for every four hours of work, in addition to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break
for every 8 hours of work.
If Invigilators are scheduled for a shift, they cannot be asked to give it up because too many
people have been scheduled.
All invigilators are entitled to a number of unpaid leaves (as well as paid bereavement leaves).
Unpaid leave is available in cases of illness, as well as to attend an academic conference if
requested by their supervisor at McGill. Unpaid leave means that Invigilators cannot be
penalized for missing work, and will be allowed to accumulate hiring priority.
3. Pay
The minimum rate of pay for invigilators is $10.65 per hour, plus 4% vacation pay. This
minimum will increase to $10.86+ 4% on May 1st 2014. If the rate of pay for an Invigilator was
higher than these amounts before July 4th, 2013, they must continue to receive the prior rate
of pay as long as they are employed in the same hiring unit.
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The CSN Rules of Order Demystified
Rules of order exist to make meetings as efficient as possible while allowing everyone to
participate equally. Sometimes the rules appear intimidating and people are afraid to speak at
assemblies because they are not familiar with them, please don’t be afraid to ask the Chair for
clarifications.
I want to speak in favour or against a motion.
To speak in debate of a motion, simply raise your voting card (or stand in line at the
microphone) and the Chair will recognize you. The first time you speak you have a 5 minute
limit, and you may speak a second time for 3 minutes (after all other persons wishing to speak
on the topic have done so). However, the Chair reserves the right to reduce speaking time to 3
minutes for the first time and 2 minutes for the second to help meeting proceed. If you moved
the motion you also have the right to a rebuttal to close the debate once nobody else wishes to
speak and if nobody has put the motion to a vote.
I want to have a freer discussion on a topic without being bound by the Rules of Order.
All you have to do is motion to Enter a Committee of the Whole for “X” amount of minutes, to
discuss “Y” subject. Any decisions adopted by majority vote while in Committee of the Whole,
will be put to a ratification vote of the Assembly once the Committee of the Whole is ended
and the regular meeting resumes, but no further discussion of the motions will take place
(unless someone proposes an amendment).
How do I change the motion that is being proposed? (Proposing an amendment)
You can propose an amendment to the motion, which can change the nature and intent of the
motion as long as it keeps to the same subject (e.g. If there is a motion to buy ice-cream for all
Delegate meetings, you can amend the motion to say that we should stop having any kind of
food at council, but you can’t amend it to say that we wish to change the quorum of Delegate
Council). An amendment can also be altered by a sub-amendment, but the sub-amendment can
only deal with deleting, adding or replacing words in the amendment. Only one amendment
can be considered at a time. Similarly, only one sub-amendment can be considered at a time.
There has been enough discussion on this motion; I want to vote (Putting the previous
question to a vote).
If at least 5 individuals have spoken in the debate, and you have not spoken in debate, then you
can raise your voting card at any time (except while someone is speaking) and simply say
“Previous Question” to call for a vote on the entire motion, including any amendments or subamendments that may be on the table. If the assembly votes in favour of putting the previous
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question, it will stop ALL debate on the motion, it will not allow the assembly to consider any
further amendments or sub-amendments. If you only wish to put the vote on a subamendment, then you must specify “Previous Question on the sub-amendment only”.
I want to stop discussing this amendment or sub-amendment and propose a different one
(because we can’t consider more than one amendment at a time).
As long as you have not already proposed or seconded anything for this motion, you can call
“Previous question on the amendment and/or sub-amendment only” at any time. At this
point the assembly will vote on whether to accept your proposal to stop discussing the
amendment and/or sub-amendment, and if it passes, then a vote will take place on whether to
adopt or defeat the amendment and/or sub-amendment. If the amendment and/or subamendment is defeated then you can propose your new amendment. However If, instead, the
sub-amendment is adopted, then the assembly will have to vote on the amendment, and if that
is adopted, it will vote on whether to accept the main motion. ***Don’t vote in favour of an
amendment if you wish to move a different amendment***
I feel like the rules/ my rights/ the assembly are not being respected (Point of Order)
You can raise a Point of Order anytime in the course of a debate, just raise your card and say
“Point of Order.” You can do this to re-establish facts, protest against personal remarks,
challenges, insults, crude language or sexist or racist comments, or to demand that a speaker
retract hurtful remarks. You can also raise it to demand that a speaker stick to the topic
debated. The Chair will rule on the point raised, either the person the point of order is raised
against or the person raising it can challenge the president’s ruling.
I disagree with the Chair’s ruling!
If you feel the chair has made a bad judgment you can challenge the Chair’s ruling on a matter
(e.g. if the Chair rules that a motion is out of order but you disagree), the assembly will then
vote on whether to accept the Chair’s ruling or not. You can also motion to suspend the rules
and change the Chair. A vote will be taken on the matter.
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