The Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) is bargaining for an improved contract for invigilators after the Collective Agreement between the university and the association expired on Dec. 1, 2025. The new contract demands a pay increase from $18 CAD per hour to a comparable wage between Université de Montréal’s $27 CAD per hour and the University of Toronto’s $50 CAD per hour. They are also demanding a minimum number of invigilators hired commensurate with the number of students who need to be invigilated.

Sneha Vaishali, a PhD candidate and doctoral researcher at McGill’s Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital who is part of AGSEM’s Unit 2 Bargaining Committee, clarified their requests in a written statement to The Tribune, stating that these demands were democratically decided upon at their Unit Assembly.

“We expect a wage of $26 [CAD per hour] going up to $32 [CAD per hour] by 2028,” Vaishali wrote. “We currently have a huge number of no-shows [in shifts], and this is because the wage is not high enough to keep invigilators motivated enough to work.”

As Canada’s leading university, Vaishali believes that McGill can most certainly meet their principal demands along with accessory ones, which may be instated pending final negotiations. These include a mandate to instate retroactive pay for invigilators who worked after the previous Collective Agreement.

Lara Herlah, currently enrolled in McGill’s biological and biomedical engineering Master’s Program, also shared her experiences as an invigilator in an interview with The Tribune. She stated that, while she did not feel overworked in the position, the pay was still inadequate considering the hours.

“It’s [graduate] students that are being hired for these positions, so I do think it would be fair to pay them more because our time is also money,” Herlah explained. “So, what would be a fair wage? Definitely more than $18 [CAD] an hour.”

If a new agreement is signed, it will last for three years before it expires. Vaishali stated that these negotiations typically last a couple of months, but that AGSEM hopes to finish as soon as possible.

“Our first bargaining session will be on [Feb. 9], and we hope to meet McGill where our members are,” Vaishali wrote. “We have been doing open bargaining during negotiations, which means that anyone that’s interested in bargaining or would like to support can join either in person or online.”