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Montréal – Coming into force on November 30, Law 14 – An Act to give greater consideration to the needs of the population in the event of a strike or lock-out, which was adopted by François Legault’s government last spring – is already facing legal action. The FTQ, the CSN, the CSQ, the CSD and the APTS, who together represent over a million workers, have announced that they will be launching a coordinated set of legal challenges.

“Law 14 infringes on workers’ right to strike, destroys the balance of labour relations, and puts too much power in the hands of the Labour Minister,” said union spokespersons Magali Picard (FTQ), Caroline Senneville (CSN), Éric Gingras (CSQ), Luc Vachon (CSD) and Robert Comeau (APTS), speaking with one voice. “As we pointed out from the start, Law 14 will encourage employers to let bargaining talks drag on as they wait for the minister to intervene. It will poison labour relations and have a major impact on labour disputes. Not only does this law, in our view, seriously jeopardize workers’ rights: it is also unconstitutional, and it will have a toxic effect on Québec’s social climate.”

“As we have repeatedly pointed out, Law 14 is an attack on workers’ ability to act collectively, rewriting the rules unilaterally on the basis of false premises,” added the spokespersons. “The government is stirring up anger as it tries to silence any opposition. We speak for our members, and the government should understand one thing: that’s a lot of people.”