Two developments we have been watching up in Canada have the potential to be very good news, but with some caveats.

The McGill TAs are preparing to vote tomorrow on a possible contract that will end a nine-week strike according to Maclean's (via Inside Higher Ed).  The potential issue is that several TAs were fired from non-union jobs during the strike, and the union, AGSEM, is seeking compensation.  The university is hoping the union is willing to forgive and forget.

Meanwhile over in Ontario, there is movement on the bill to recognize the 12,500 contingent faculty members in that province.  And while some are hailing this development as evidence that Canada truly is a paradise, it appears that the Ontario government is just as prone to mischief when it comes to labor law as our own government.  Apparently, in modifying the labor code to recognize contingent faculty, the bill also curbs the rights of other employees - namely full-time faculty.  Nothing like pitting one group against another to provide cover for doing nothing at all.

OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), the union that has been organizing contingent faculty and working for the change in the law, issued a press release expressing its dismay with the move.

"It is pretty outrageous that this government thinks that recognizing the Charter rights of one group of workers means that another group of workers must give something up," said OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "Charter rights are not some kind of benefit to be paid for, they are rights, pure and simple. They cannot and must not be treated like just another bargaining chip."

So there is more work to be done.  We will keep watching how each of these situations develop.