On Friday, 22nd May 2026, we held our seventh bargaining session with McGill as part of our efforts to win a better contract for invigilators. Our committee consists of Sneha Senthil (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Maureen Nayebare (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Andrews Baada (Invigilator, SAA), Ari Blondal (AGSEM President), and Guillaume Forest-Allard (our FNEEQ bargaining advisor).

As reported in our previous newsletter, we had been awaiting McGill’s response to several union proposals. This session brought some movement. McGill agreed to notify invigilators of their specific role (Invigilator or Circulator) prior to the start of their shift, giving workers the time they need to prepare appropriately. The Employer also agreed to improve access to mandatory training materials by providing clearer job aids and more readily available technical support. On the question of shift assignment, McGill accepted language stating that shifts should be distributed as fairly and impartially as possible. While this is a step in the right direction, the language remains vague, and we will be pushing to strengthen it in future sessions.

On Monday, 4th May 2026, we held our sixth bargaining session with McGill as part of our efforts to win a better contract for invigilators. Our committee consists of Sneha Senthil (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Maureen Nayebare (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Andrews Baada (Invigilator, SAA), Dallas Jokic (AGSEM President), and Guillaume Forest-Allard (our FNEEQ bargaining advisor).

A key focus this session was addressing the growing issue of invigilator no-shows, which have placed increasing strain on working conditions. The union presented detailed, practical mechanisms to better manage and reduce no-shows. This issue has been particularly acute in Enrolment Services where gaps in staffing have left circulators burdened with taking students each to bathrooms and invigilators covering significantly more rows than assigned. This raises concerns about workload and overall academic integrity. Based on data from McGill, no-shows have reached approximately 10% this semester. 

On Monday, 13th April 2026, we held our fifth bargaining session with McGill as part of our efforts to win a better contract for invigilators. Our committee consists of Sneha Senthil (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Maureen Nayebare (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Andrews Baada (Invigilator, SAA), Dallas Jokic (AGSEM President), and Guillaume Forest-Allard (our FNEEQ bargaining advisor). 

We began by discussing points from our previous bargaining session. The following matters were discussed:

Fairer Shift Allocation

McGill signaled openness to improving how shifts are assigned. They accepted our updated language defining priority (to make the current language clearer). They also proposed that shifts be distributed as “fairly and impartially” as possible, while considering factors such as employee availability and hours worked in the previous exam period. While this is a promising start, we think it is insufficient. Our proposal called on the employer to offer workers within a given category an “approximately equal” number of shifts and to offer shifts to those (in a given category) who have worked less that semester. McGill’s proposal relies on the more vague idea of “fair and impartial” shift allocation and bases priority within a category on who worked less the previous semester. This puts many invigilators at a disadvantage since the list of invigilators including the number of hours worked is not updated during the semester in McGill’s proposal. We will be making a counter-proposal on this item during our next bargaining session. 

On Friday, 27th March 2026, we held our fourth bargaining session with McGill as part of our efforts to secure a stronger contract for invigilators at McGill  Our committee consists of Sneha Senthil (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Maureen Nayebare (Invigilator, Enrolment Services), Andrews Baada (Invigilator, SAA), Dallas Jokic (AGSEM President), and Guillaume Forest-Allard (our FNEEQ bargaining advisor). 

As mentioned previously, proposals are often organized based on how easily both parties can reach agreement. Typically, the easier non-monetary items are discussed and signed off on first before negotiations move toward more complex issues, particularly those involving monetary matters.

On Friday February 27th and Monday March 9th , we held our second and third bargaining sessions as part of our efforts to secure a stronger contract for invigilators at McGill  Our committee consists of Sneha Senthil, Maureen Nayebare, Andrews Baada, Dallas Jokic (AGSEM President), and Guillaume Forest-Allard (our FNEEQ bargaining advisor).

Friday, Feb 27, 2026

During bargaining, proposals are often organized based on how easily both parties can reach agreement. Typically, the easier non-monetary items are discussed and signed off on first before negotiations move toward more complex issues, particularly those involving monetary matters. At our first meeting, McGill proposed grouping different articles of our bargaining proposal into different categories, which our committee agreed to. After agreeing on several non-monetary items, mostly related to harmonizing language with other Collective Agreements or current practices , we began moving into broader demands outlined in the invigilator bargaining mandate, particularly those related to contract stability and shift distribution. 

Negotiations for a new collective agreement for Invigilators are officially underway! Your bargaining committee had their first meeting with McGill’s negotiating team on Tuesday, February 9th, and are off to a strong start already. Several of your colleagues joined us on Monday for pre-bargaining coffee and donuts, and some of them even joined the bargaining team in the negotiations room for open-bargaining. 

Interested in joining in on future bargaining sessions? Let us know by filling out this form! The next bargaining session will be Friday, February 27 from 9:30am-12:30pm, as well as Monday March 9 and Monday March 27, both also 9:30am-12:30pm. Your presence in the room is a huge support to your bargaining committee, and demonstrates to McGill’s negotiators that we are united and determined to win! 

It was great to see so many of you at our tabling sessions!

At assemblies in April and November, invigilators voted on a bargaining mandate. We have been working hard to turn this mandate into a bargaining proposal over the last few months and we informed McGill back in September that we were ready to bargain. After our Collective Agreement expired on December 1, we finally heard back from McGill that they will be ready to bargain in early 2026.  

The Invigilator Collective Agreement, that is, the document governing the working conditions for all invigilators at McGill, expires on December 1, 2025. This means that we have an opportunity to re-negotiate this agreement to improve our working conditions (anything from pay to breaks, to hiring, to protections against harassment).

The first step of the bargaining process is understanding how invigilators feel about their work conditions and what they would like to change. If you’ve worked as an invigilator before please fill out this survey, it will help determine the bargaining priorities for invigilators and will enter you in a draw to win one of two $50 gift certificates to Librairie Pulp Books & Cafe!