MONTREAL — Quebec's labour tribunal has ordered McGill University to stop obstructing and interfering with a union representing full-time law professors amid an ongoing strike over what the union says is the faculty's right to unionize.
The tribunal found the university appears to have violated the Quebec Labour Code when its administration sent two emails to law professors criticizing the union, according to an Aug. 30 decision. The emails were sent to law faculty in the days before they decided to resume an unlimited strike coinciding with the start of classes.
The union demonstrated that McGill was "seeking to influence its members on the eve of a general meeting," the ruling states. The tribunal found the two emails attempted to "undermine the union's credibility" at a particularly sensitive moment and it ordered McGill to inform the union before any future communication with law professors.
The tribunal's ruling is a temporary order, with a full hearing on the matter scheduled for later this month.
The decision is a "remarkable turn of events," said McGill law professor Richard Janda, who is the secretary and chief negotiator for the Association of McGill Professors of Law.
"It’s the first time that we’ve had such a clear statement from the tribunal that the university is acting in an anti-union fashion and is violating the law,” Janda said.
The two emails contained messages from McGill provost Christopher Manfredi and Fabrice Labeau, vice-president of administration...
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