A New Bill in Québec Could Create an ‘Exception’ to Every Worker’s Right to Strike

This article was originally published by Pivot, an independent, non-profit francophone news outlet based in Québec — PressProgress and Pivot are working together to translate and republish each other’s stories.

According to several observers who spoke during public consultations, Bill 89, which would allow the Minister of Labour to end strikes and lock-outs or force certain services to be maintained, could be applied to almost any labour conflict. This scope is celebrated by employers and vigorously challenged by unions.

During public consultations on Bill 89, held last month at the National Assembly, labour minister Jean Boulet took a conciliatory tone, promising that his new powers would be used sparingly and only to resolve exceptional cases.

Québec’s employer associations nonetheless made it clear that they wanted to see these powers applied in a wide range of situations.

Bill 89 allows the Administrative Labour Tribunal (ALT) to, upon request from the labour minister, order the maintenance of “services minimally required to prevent the population’s social, economic or environmental security from being disproportionately affected, in particular that of persons in vulnerable situations.”

The minister can also call on the ALT to force arbitration if a private-sector labour conflict could threaten “serious or irreparable injury to the population.”

From Children with Special Needs to Arena Maintenance

Boulet has specifically presented his bill as a way of protecting vulnerable people, especially children, from the potential impacts of a labour conflict.

However, the criterion of “social, economic or environmental” security, used in the bill as a condition for the minister’s intervention, has been interpreted by unions, employers and labour law specialists alike as a very broad one that could apply to a wide range of situations.

For example, the Conseil du patronat du Québec hopes to use the new provisions to prevent the population from being denied the possibility of “having their tires changed or other car maintenance performed” in the case of a labour conflict involving a garage or dealership.

In the same vein, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which represents SMEs, hopes to see these measures used when a work stoppage affects the viability of a business’ partners.

Québec’s manufacturers and exporters have taken the idea even further, hoping that the government would intervene as soon as impacts are felt beyond the employer-employee level.

The Québec Fédération des chambres de commerce took a similar tack, asking that the government ensure that measures to mediate the potential effects of strikes are set out even before a given strike begins.

For its part, the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ) hopes to see the new bill apply to almost every service that its member cities provide to their populations.

“This bill won’t hold up [in court], but that will take ten to twelve years. In the meantime, they’ll be running roughshod over the rights of every worker in this province.”

Varennes mayor and UMQ President Martin Damphousse believes that Bill 89 will help maintain snow removal and waste collection services, day camps and public transportation, as well as “soccer and baseball field maintenance, because we need to encourage active lifestyles.” He also hopes to see the law apply to lifeguards, especially during heat waves, and even to arena staff.

Mayor Damphousse also suggested that, to minimize the impacts of strikes on the population, workers should be encouraged to stop work only during periods where “it won’t bother anyone.”

A Bill to Bypass the Constitution

Faced with repeated calls to widen the scope of the bill or to specify in advance which sectors it would affect, Boulet has remained adamant that the bill is well safeguarded and has avoided naming any specific sectors in accordance with requirements from the Supreme Court.

The Court has previously imposed strong limitations on the capacity of provincial governments to step in and end labour conflicts, underscoring the constitutional nature of the right to strike in a 2015 ruling against the Government of Saskatchewan.

Magali Picard, president of the Fédération des travailleur·euses du Québec (FTQ), has made it clear to Boulet that her union will fight this bill in court from the moment it enters into force.

In her comments condemning the bill, she said, “It won’t hold up, but that process will take ten to twelve years, and by then, the minister won’t be around. In the meantime, they’ll be running roughshod over the rights of every worker in this province.”

If adopted soon, the bill’s application could be near-immediate. As many observers have pointed out, it could be used to contain a potential general strike among public daycare (CPE) workers, a possibility which is growing increasingly likely.

“This is only a diversion from all the ways this government has failed to help the population.”

Union representatives who spoke at the public hearings were unanimous in calling for the bill to be withdrawn, seeing it as a significant infringement on the right to collective bargaining.

Each underscored how new provisions would encourage employers to wait for a favourable intervention by the government in the case of a strike or lock-out rather than negotiating in good faith with workers. This would have the effect of pointlessly prolonging labour conflicts and their potential impacts on the population, which is exactly contrary to the bill’s supposed objectives.

“This is only a diversion from all the ways this government has failed to help the population,” condemned Magali Picard. “We’re in a housing and a cost-of-living crisis. People are struggling to make ends meet and the government has no plan to address that. Instead, it is scapegoating workers by placing them in opposition to the population.”

In Picard’s summary, “it’s an insult to the workers and an insult to the population.”