McGill University has been accused of using illegal replacement workers to fill in for striking support staff, according to the Quebec Ministry of Labour.
The accusations were made Sept. 23 when a Quebec Labour Department inspector filed a public report detailing that 15 of 110 workers were not eligible replacements for the more than 1,600 support staff on strike.
These illegal workers were found not to be managers or employees who are certified for the positions, the report stated.
The investigation came after 57 complaints from striking members of the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA).
Quebec and British Columbia are the only two provinces in which hiring replacement workers is deemed illegal, according to the Canadian Labour Reporter.
If McGill is found guilty of the accusations, the Quebec Labour Board can fine the university.
Michael Di Grappa, vice-principal (administration and finance) at McGill, told the Montreal Gazette that the university questions the investigation.
“This report is a step in a process and is not a definitive legal finding,” Di Grappa said. “All the contingency actions taken to keep the university operating in its core mission of teaching and research during the MUNACA strike are fully within the law.”
The university has taken actions to quell the striking workers by obtaining an injunction to decrease the noise and size of the crowds at the picket lines, according to the McGill Reporter.
Groups must not have more than 15 people within four meters of entrances or exits and must abstain from “demonstrating or protesting by shouting, chanting, marching, picketing, displaying signs or posters, gesturing or assembling” on university property, the Supreme Court injunction stated.