The Syndicat général des professeurs et professeures de l’Université de Montréal (SGPPUM) reached a tentative agreement with the administration on January 29. The last-minute deal averted a strike planned to begin the same day.

Negotiations had stalled despite the appointment of a conciliator by the Minister of Labour. After more than a year of talks, SGPPUM members voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike mandate last December.

According to SGPPUM, the strike mandate sent a “clear message” to the UdeM administration that a quick and timely resolution would help it avoid “the first labour dispute with professors in 18 years.”

SGPPUM looked to secure improvements to working conditions to support learning and research, active participation of members in decisions that affect the university’s public mission, and salary gains. The UdeM has the worst student-teacher ratio of all comparable universities in Quebec.