News

Montréal – Québec’s nine largest unions have filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to contest the CAQ government’s Bill 4. With this complaint, labour unions representing over 1.5 million Québec workers are showing their determination to defend workers’ rights against the government’s repeated attacks against unions.

In the complaint filed with the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association, unions are asking that Bill 4 be declared a violation of the ILO’s Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, ratified by Canada. The complaint, based on a number of the committee’s previous decisions, points to the right of unions to manage their own internal affairs without government interference. 

The unions want the government to repeal Bill 4, a law that infringes on fundamental rights and interferes in union matters by limiting their role in society and adding costly administrative constraints that unionized workers will have to pay for. With an election campaign about to get under way, unions are asking political parties for a commitment to repealing anti-union laws.

“The government has nothing to be proud of. Having stubbornly continued to interfere in union affairs, it is now the target of international criticism,” said union presidents Magali Picard (FTQ), Caroline Senneville (CSN), Éric Gingras (CSQ), Luc Vachon (CSD), Nathalie Levesque (FIQ), Robert Comeau (APTS), Mélanie Hubert (FAE), Patrick Audy (SFPQ) and Guillaume Bouvrette (SPGQ). “Québec labour unions will keep on fighting to ensure that workers’ rights are respected. They’re the people who keep our economy going, day in and day out – but instead of supporting them, the government has repeatedly passed legislation that undermines them. Its goal is to silence workers and their unions. Rather than choosing dialogue, the government has opted for confrontation.” 

Sources:

FTQ, CSN, CSQ, CSD, FIQ, APTS, FAE, SFPQ, SPGQ