3 largest union federations in Quebec forming coalition ahead of negotiations

The three largest labour unions in Quebec announced Sunday they will be joining to form a common front during the negotiation of collective agreements in the public sector that will begin in 2023. 

The three unions – the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ) and the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) – will coordinate on shared demands, with a non-binding agreement between the organizations.

"The message we want to send today is that we are together," said Éric Gingras, the president of the CSQ, at a press conference in Montreal Sunday morning. 

He said he hopes that by forming a common front the unions will be able to avoid the "psychodrama of negotiations in Quebec" that can sometimes take up to up to two years to settle. 

The three unions represent more than 355,000 public sector workers, many of whom work in the health-care, social services and education sectors.

The last public sector agreements, some of which have just been adopted and others which are still pending, will expire on March 31, 2023. However, by law unions must submit their applications before the end of next October. 

In a news release, the coalition said they will be holding consultations with workers over the next several months as they fine-tune the demands they will be bringing to employers. 

Their priorities include raising wages in line with inflation to address shortages, and improving working conditions that have deteriorated since the beginning of the pandemic. 

"The pandemic has demonstrated not only the importance of public services but also their fragility," said François Enault, the vice-president of the CSN. 

The three unions have said they are open to the addition of independent unions to the coalition.

The announcement of the common front coincides with the 50th anniversary of the formation of the first common front in Quebec in 1972, when ​​over 200,000 union members from government, education and social services hit picket lines together after years of unrest with the provincial government. 

That general strike lasted 10 days, ending with the imprisonment of the three union presidents and legislation ordering workers back to work.