The Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) held its annual general meeting on Thursday, January 25. AMUSE’s website describes this meeting as the “highest governing forum of the union.”
The meeting began with reports from the executive committee, the board of representatives, and other committees within the union where members summarized their projects and pursuits from the past year and provided objectives for the upcoming year.
After the presentation of annual reports, Alexandra Lelyuk, Internal Affairs Officer, moved to present the Pay Equity Report and summarize the settlement reached in August 2018 between AMUSE and the University. This settlement is the result of a long process of negotiations after AMUSE found the University in violation of the Quebec Pay Equity Act, based on improperly conducted pay equity assessments performed by the University in 2010 and 2015. The settlement includes a $40,000 payment to AMUSE, which the union will use to fund the difficult task of finding the almost 10,000 members who worked for the University within the past eight years and are eligible to receive retroactive payments. The settlement also included a 7.5 per cent raise for current AMUSE employees.
The union voted on a proposed increase in union dues, from 1.6559 per cent to 1.7377 per cent, which passed unanimously. This proposal was largely motivated by the observation that AMUSE’s dues were lower than those of similar unions in Quebec. The increase in dues will provide an additional $7,600 in annual funding, which AMUSE plans to put towards hosting additional events on campus, developing trainings for board members, increasing the President’s weekly hours, and increasing their presence at conferences.
Members were then asked to vote on the proposed budget for the upcoming year, which passed unanimously. Following this, members voted on amendments to the union’s bylaws. Among these amendments was a proposed increase in the reimbursement given to union members from MacDonald campus for attending union meetings from $3.25 to $5, as well as changing the start date of the fiscal year to February 1 to coincide with the date of the annual general meeting. All amendments passed unanimously.
The meeting concluded with elections for executive committees, the board of representatives, and the grievance committee. All members of the executive committee were elected unopposed.