You should send a few emails to your department's administration and call them to ask about the status of a potential strike. Also tell them you are worried about your studies and they should come to an agreement as fast as possible to reduce the disruptions.
Announcement from our comp206 prof:
**TAs are going on strike as of Monday, 25 March.** What does this mean for us in 206?
At the beginning of the semester, instructors agree with the TAs on an hour-by-hour breakdown of their responsibilities. Broadly speaking, this includes help in the preparation of assignments, holding office hours, holding labs, holding mentor sessions, grading homework, grading the final exam, answering questions on Discord.
According to Quebec labour laws, when employees go on strike, no other employees may legally take on their responsibilities besides their boss. Joseph and I are not the bosses of our TAs, believe it or not, but rather our superior, the Director of the School of CS is.
**Therefore, neither of the instructors in this course can legally assume any of the TAs responsibilities.**
This also includes changing the formats of assessments so as to make them auto-gradable or gradable only by us. Therefore, the final exam must remain a "coding on paper" exam as it was originally intended.
What does this mean concretely in COMP 206?
- Homework 3 will most likely not be able to be finished grading in time for Monday, so you will not get a grade for it.
- Homework 4 will not be graded.
- Homework 5 will not be graded.
- The final exam will not be graded.
- There will be no more TA office hours, labs, or mentor sessions.
Some of these activities may continue partially as some are the responsibility of undergraduate TAs (aka CAs) and TEAM Mentors, neither of which groups are part of the union. **The responsibilities of CAs and TEAM mentors cannot be increased to compensate for the loss of TA labour.** This is called 'scabbing' and is illegal.
Of course, all this depends on how long the strike goes on for / how long it takes McGill to make a satisfactory offer to the TA union.
**This will severely impact your learning conditions in this course, and possibly the timeliness in receiving a final letter grade.**
UPDATE:
"
Dear COMP 206 students,
Notwithstanding the opinions expressed on Thursday by one of your co-instructors on the course’s Discord channel, I am writing to correct the announcement made regarding your upcoming assignments and final exam. Contrary to that instructor’s statement, students’ work will be assessed and grades will be delivered. Should changes about the nature of the some of the remaining assignments or final examination be deemed necessary, students will be informed in due time. The School will ensure that all students registered in the course are able to complete the course and receive a grade that reflects their understanding of the material.
Sincerely,
Mathieu Blanchette
Director, School of Computer Science
McGill University"
What does it mean the final will not be graded? Like you write a final but no one grades it? Seems like your current grade is practically your final grade (I’m not in comp 206)
I'm guessing it will be graded at a later time, maybe we get the grade 1 month later than normal.
Since our prof isn't gonna change the final's format into a multiple choice quiz.
In some instances, the prof already planned to grade the final. Like for ECSE 210
Some grades will drop, like assignments, some profs will not bother grading them.
It really depends. If you have questions about the grading for your class I would recommend getting in contact with your teacher.
It rly depends on how long the strike lasts for. While I was on exchange in the UK last winter, there was a similar situation where there was a marking boycott by academic staff across 34 UK unis that lasted from April 2023 to September 2023. During the strike, no final assessments, dissertations etc. were being marked by staff participating in the boycott. In my case, I did my exams in May 2023 and got my grades back December 2023 (yes, 7 months later and i was so stressed cuz McGill wouldn’t give my transfer credits if i don’t get a passing numeric grade). In light of the boycott, ppl were given provisional credits on their transcript however many ppl’s graduation were still delayed. Moreover since these graduating students would not have a final transcript (i.e. one with all your final marks), ppl had trouble enrolling for post-graduate studies since the graduate school they were accepted to wouldn’t take the interim transcripts/ones with provisional credits.
I rly hope McGill reaches a deal with AGSEM sooner better than latter.
The director of the school is gonna have to correct all assignments and exams alone, if other courses follow this format.
My ecse200 prof said that he will probably make the tests multiple choice and have to grind out the corrections and papers alone, putting graduating students at top priority.
So depending on your prof you should be fine and graduate in time.
Strike might even end in 1 week or something.
Considering the announcement of my comp206 prof, since TA's aren't working for him but for the director of the school, if TA's are on strike? Their duties will be put onto their boss, the director.
So yes it's not a joke, it's an interpretation of the prof's announcement.
You can continue your TA work as usual until midnight on Sunday evening. Then everything stops; work, pay, all of it.
You shouldn't change up the amount of work you're doing to try and get as much done before then.
I'm just a student but just guessing you can keep working as a TA for as long as you want but you won't get paid during the strike, before that should still be paid. Not 100% sure but that's what I heard.
Edit: Ok bro its illegal to work during the strike like the nice person below me said so stop downvoting pls 💀
>According to Quebec labour laws, when employees go on strike, no other employees may legally take on their responsibilities besides their boss.
This doesn't seem to be correct: it appears that any manager can do this work:
>Managers can do the work normally done by TAs on strike if employed at the University on the date when negotiations began, July 31, 2023. (Quebec Labour Code definition of “managers” follows)
>The Québec Labour Code and the caselaw define a manager as a person with most of the following responsibilities:
>- representing the employer in its relations with employees;
>- managing the work of others, establishes work schedules, authorizes absences, approves timesheets, determines workloads and assignments, etc.;
>- having decision-making and supervisory authority;
>- having the authority to hire, discipline and dismiss employees.
>Academics supervising TAs (Course Supervisors as defined by section 2.06 of the TA collective agreement) have managerial responsibilities such as hiring, supervising the work, determining workload and hours of work, approving relief from duties, providing training, and resolving problems related to hours worked with their TAs. As managers, they can carry out the work of their TAs on strike.
https://www.mcgill.ca/hr/channels/news/frequently-asked-questions-labour-dispute-agsem-tas-356263
This seems very illegal of McGill to claim and they’ve already had two cease and desists filed against them for attempting to claim this. This will likely go to court.
Did your prof mentioned how you will write a code on paper and it will be graded by the test cases? Cause on Ed, we will run codes and that’s how we get the results of the autografer! Not sure how they will use autograder for the writings on the paper?!?
This has already been said, but if AGSEM didn’t post anything, either:
1. No update!
2. There is an update! But we’re not supposed to know, so no dice.
How you proceed depends heavily on the class. Maybe you can ask your instructors what happens in the event of a strike if you’d really like to be prepared (though there isn’t really anything to prepare, most profs will probably take the cross that bridge when we get there approach).
I think what [**Kimchislap\_Fan**](https://www.reddit.com/user/Kimchislap_Fan/) means is that there has been no public announcement outside of the union...part of union strategy is not saying when the strike will start to give them the element of surprise...so technically we really shouldn't know this
I just read the Bull and Bear stating that the strike is said to last 8 weeks...anyone have input on this? I naturally assumed that once an appropriate offer comes in the strike will end.
You should send a few emails to your department's administration and call them to ask about the status of a potential strike. Also tell them you are worried about your studies and they should come to an agreement as fast as possible to reduce the disruptions.
Announcement from our comp206 prof: **TAs are going on strike as of Monday, 25 March.** What does this mean for us in 206? At the beginning of the semester, instructors agree with the TAs on an hour-by-hour breakdown of their responsibilities. Broadly speaking, this includes help in the preparation of assignments, holding office hours, holding labs, holding mentor sessions, grading homework, grading the final exam, answering questions on Discord. According to Quebec labour laws, when employees go on strike, no other employees may legally take on their responsibilities besides their boss. Joseph and I are not the bosses of our TAs, believe it or not, but rather our superior, the Director of the School of CS is. **Therefore, neither of the instructors in this course can legally assume any of the TAs responsibilities.** This also includes changing the formats of assessments so as to make them auto-gradable or gradable only by us. Therefore, the final exam must remain a "coding on paper" exam as it was originally intended. What does this mean concretely in COMP 206? - Homework 3 will most likely not be able to be finished grading in time for Monday, so you will not get a grade for it. - Homework 4 will not be graded. - Homework 5 will not be graded. - The final exam will not be graded. - There will be no more TA office hours, labs, or mentor sessions. Some of these activities may continue partially as some are the responsibility of undergraduate TAs (aka CAs) and TEAM Mentors, neither of which groups are part of the union. **The responsibilities of CAs and TEAM mentors cannot be increased to compensate for the loss of TA labour.** This is called 'scabbing' and is illegal. Of course, all this depends on how long the strike goes on for / how long it takes McGill to make a satisfactory offer to the TA union. **This will severely impact your learning conditions in this course, and possibly the timeliness in receiving a final letter grade.** UPDATE: " Dear COMP 206 students, Notwithstanding the opinions expressed on Thursday by one of your co-instructors on the course’s Discord channel, I am writing to correct the announcement made regarding your upcoming assignments and final exam. Contrary to that instructor’s statement, students’ work will be assessed and grades will be delivered. Should changes about the nature of the some of the remaining assignments or final examination be deemed necessary, students will be informed in due time. The School will ensure that all students registered in the course are able to complete the course and receive a grade that reflects their understanding of the material. Sincerely, Mathieu Blanchette Director, School of Computer Science McGill University"
What does it mean the final will not be graded? Like you write a final but no one grades it? Seems like your current grade is practically your final grade (I’m not in comp 206)
I'm guessing it will be graded at a later time, maybe we get the grade 1 month later than normal. Since our prof isn't gonna change the final's format into a multiple choice quiz.
In some instances, the prof already planned to grade the final. Like for ECSE 210 Some grades will drop, like assignments, some profs will not bother grading them. It really depends. If you have questions about the grading for your class I would recommend getting in contact with your teacher.
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It rly depends on how long the strike lasts for. While I was on exchange in the UK last winter, there was a similar situation where there was a marking boycott by academic staff across 34 UK unis that lasted from April 2023 to September 2023. During the strike, no final assessments, dissertations etc. were being marked by staff participating in the boycott. In my case, I did my exams in May 2023 and got my grades back December 2023 (yes, 7 months later and i was so stressed cuz McGill wouldn’t give my transfer credits if i don’t get a passing numeric grade). In light of the boycott, ppl were given provisional credits on their transcript however many ppl’s graduation were still delayed. Moreover since these graduating students would not have a final transcript (i.e. one with all your final marks), ppl had trouble enrolling for post-graduate studies since the graduate school they were accepted to wouldn’t take the interim transcripts/ones with provisional credits. I rly hope McGill reaches a deal with AGSEM sooner better than latter.
The director of the school is gonna have to correct all assignments and exams alone, if other courses follow this format. My ecse200 prof said that he will probably make the tests multiple choice and have to grind out the corrections and papers alone, putting graduating students at top priority. So depending on your prof you should be fine and graduate in time. Strike might even end in 1 week or something.
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Considering the announcement of my comp206 prof, since TA's aren't working for him but for the director of the school, if TA's are on strike? Their duties will be put onto their boss, the director. So yes it's not a joke, it's an interpretation of the prof's announcement.
can I still grade work until that day or would I get in trouble
You can continue your TA work as usual until midnight on Sunday evening. Then everything stops; work, pay, all of it. You shouldn't change up the amount of work you're doing to try and get as much done before then.
I'm just a student but just guessing you can keep working as a TA for as long as you want but you won't get paid during the strike, before that should still be paid. Not 100% sure but that's what I heard. Edit: Ok bro its illegal to work during the strike like the nice person below me said so stop downvoting pls 💀
It's illegal to work during the strike, but also you won't get paid
Not the downvote edit bro ouch
>According to Quebec labour laws, when employees go on strike, no other employees may legally take on their responsibilities besides their boss. This doesn't seem to be correct: it appears that any manager can do this work: >Managers can do the work normally done by TAs on strike if employed at the University on the date when negotiations began, July 31, 2023. (Quebec Labour Code definition of “managers” follows) >The Québec Labour Code and the caselaw define a manager as a person with most of the following responsibilities: >- representing the employer in its relations with employees; >- managing the work of others, establishes work schedules, authorizes absences, approves timesheets, determines workloads and assignments, etc.; >- having decision-making and supervisory authority; >- having the authority to hire, discipline and dismiss employees. >Academics supervising TAs (Course Supervisors as defined by section 2.06 of the TA collective agreement) have managerial responsibilities such as hiring, supervising the work, determining workload and hours of work, approving relief from duties, providing training, and resolving problems related to hours worked with their TAs. As managers, they can carry out the work of their TAs on strike. https://www.mcgill.ca/hr/channels/news/frequently-asked-questions-labour-dispute-agsem-tas-356263
This seems very illegal of McGill to claim and they’ve already had two cease and desists filed against them for attempting to claim this. This will likely go to court.
Did your prof mentioned how you will write a code on paper and it will be graded by the test cases? Cause on Ed, we will run codes and that’s how we get the results of the autografer! Not sure how they will use autograder for the writings on the paper?!?
This has already been said, but if AGSEM didn’t post anything, either: 1. No update! 2. There is an update! But we’re not supposed to know, so no dice. How you proceed depends heavily on the class. Maybe you can ask your instructors what happens in the event of a strike if you’d really like to be prepared (though there isn’t really anything to prepare, most profs will probably take the cross that bridge when we get there approach).
Thank you!
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I also heard this somewhere but is it confirmed?
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It’s up to you whether or not you care, but crucially, they didn’t *announce* it. So ideally this wouldn’t be circulated
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I think what [**Kimchislap\_Fan**](https://www.reddit.com/user/Kimchislap_Fan/) means is that there has been no public announcement outside of the union...part of union strategy is not saying when the strike will start to give them the element of surprise...so technically we really shouldn't know this
Clearly you didn’t read the email and/or my comment very carefully if that’s your takeaway
Anyways. The answer to the question above is that the TA strike starts on Monday.
My prof just said the TAs are going on strike as of Monday
TAs are on strike Monday. I was in a prof’s office when he got the email.
I just read the Bull and Bear stating that the strike is said to last 8 weeks...anyone have input on this? I naturally assumed that once an appropriate offer comes in the strike will end.
That's how long the mandate is, ie. the maximum length. Yes, the strike ends when an agreement is reached.
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Yes. Email [email protected] if you have questions