The Customs and Immigration Union joins PSAC-Quebec and the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) in condemning the Legault government’s Bill 3 (link in French), which aims to silence workers by weakening the foundations of the modern labour movement.
“It’s absolutely shameful,” said Yanniv Waknine, CIU’s third National Vice-President, responsible for the CIU Quebec region. “After muzzling Quebec doctors with Bill 2, François Legault and his government continue to reach new lows with Bill 3, which recalls last century’s union-busting attempts. By seeking to attack the Rand formula, the Quebec government is only confirming its inability to negotiate in good faith and, at the same time, its lack of integrity.”
CIU invites its members to visit the FTQ website to learn more about the unions’ response to the Legault government, such as the inter-union rally planned for November 29 (in French).
We are also resharing the reactions from PSAC-Quebec and the FTQ, below.
Reaction from PSAC-Quebec: Hands off union dues
“This attack on the labour movement is a smokescreen and serves neither our members nor the population as a whole,” said Sébastien Paquette, Executive Vice-President for PSAC-Quebec. “This is clearly a strategy to avoid talking about the real issues in the year leading up to the next election.”
Unions are duty-bound to negotiate collective agreements and ensure their members are fairly represented with an employer. Nothing prevents them from also taking political action on behalf of their members.
Article 1 of the Labour Code states that a union exists for “the study, safeguarding and development of the economic, social and educational interests of its members”. These goals can only be achieved through member communications and education, public awareness campaigns, political action with elected officials, and legal challenges.
Read more on the PSAC-Quebec website.
Reaction from the FTQ: “François Legault’s legacy: Division and chaos”
(translated from French)
“For months, this government has been looking for scapegoats in an attempt to make people forget its incompetence and failures and boost its poll numbers. Let the government, its ministers, and its members of parliament take note: the FTQ will never allow itself to be silenced,” said FTQ President Magali Picard.
“The people of Quebec, as well as the workers we represent, are not fooled. Bill 3 is a pretext to silence those who criticize François Legault’s government and the CAQ for their disastrous record,” added the president.
Read more on the FTQ website (in French).
Beyond CAQ ideology: the social contract built upon employer deduction of union dues
Before the 1940s, unions collected members’ dues by hand every month and could call a strike at any time.
Following a major strike in Ontario in the 1940s, Justice Ivan Rand ruled that employers would deduct and forward union dues monthly, free of charge. This ruling was called the Rand Formula. Everyone working in a unit would pay dues, regardless of whether they were union members. In exchange, Judge Rand ordered, unions would only be granted the right to strike after their collective agreement expired.
So began the social contract: while union fees were deducted by the employer, unions agreed not to strike while a collective agreement remained in effect.
To this day, the Rand Formula has been the cornerstone of all labour legislation in Canada.
Is the CAQ reneging on their Rand Formula obligations?
