News

Drummondville – Over 500 labour activists from the nine biggest Québec unions – the APTS, CSN, CSD, CSQ, FAE, FIQ, FTQ, SFPQ and SPGQ – are meeting today to take a decisive step for the Estates General on the Union Movement: identifying solutions to meet current and future challenges.

“This collective initiative is unprecedented in labour history, and our theme – Unions build the future – fully reflects our collective approach based on listening and sharing ideas,” said union presidents Robert Comeau (APTS), Luc Vachon (CSD), Caroline Senneville (CSN), Éric Gingras (CSQ), Mélanie Hubert (FAE), Julie Bouchard (FIQ), Magali Picard (FTQ), Christian Daigle (SFPQ) and Guillaume Bouvrette (SPGQ) in a joint declaration. “At a time when workers’ rights are under attack, we are responding with solidarity and a determination to strengthen union action.”

Thinking about solutions

The Estates General, launched last year, began with a wide-ranging consultation that reached out to members of all labour organizations. This allowed us to clearly identify our members’ perceptions and the challenges currently faced by the labour movement.

The first thing we found was that according to a large majority of the members that we consulted, the labour movement is still as essential as it ever was, for reasons that include the need to keep fighting against growing social inequalities and the need to face the cost of living crisis.

Themes that stood out as priority issues were member participation and involvement outside of bargaining periods, the need for a stronger power dynamic, and the need to strengthen unions’ ability to mobilize people. These issues will be at the centre of discussions during the conference.

The consultation showed the importance of greater efforts to support inclusion of young people, racialized people, immigrants, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and temporary foreign workers. It also highlighted the need to ensure that union democracy stays strong and alive in every labour organization.

On the basis of these findings and with the support of academic expertise, participants will share their ideas and proposals in order to develop an inspiring action plan over the next months, embodying concrete solutions for the future of Québec’s labour movement.

“Consultations have told us very clearly that our members want a strong, inclusive, and mobilized labour movement,” said the union presidents. “This conference is an opportunity for us to change their concerns into concrete solutions. Together, we have the responsibility – and the ability – to build a strong power dynamic and a future for the labour movement that reflects what our members want.”

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