MONTREAL — Quebec’s four main union federations and five other unions are organizing to bring thousands of unionists to a mass united rally in Montreal Nov. 29. They are protesting a whole series of laws either already adopted or proposed by the Quebec government that trample on union rights and political freedoms.
“We are at war. This is the fight of our lives,” Magali Picard, president of the Quebec Federation of Labor, told delegates to the annual convention of the United Steelworkers Nov. 20. The QFL the largest union federation in Quebec, is using its own convention in Quebec City Nov. 24-27 to mobilize for the march and rally.
Union contingents will gather at Canada Place in downtown Montreal and march to the office of Quebec Premier Francois Legault to rally and hear speeches by union leaders.
The demonstration taps into the widespread dissatisfaction in the working class with the Coalition for the Future of Quebec (CAQ) government. Workers face a deepening economic, political, social and moral crisis of the world capitalist system. The government’s response is to attack union rights and the right to strike.
The protest is drawing in different sections of the working class and some middle-class professionals, which is reflected in the unprecedented decision of the Quebec family doctors organization to join the union action. Over 13,000 Quebec doctors and their supporters had recently rallied at Montreal’s Bell Centre to protest Bill 2, pushed through the Quebec National Assembly without any discussion. The bill cut off negotiations between the doctors and the government over speedup, wages and other attacks on their jobs. The doctors, who have the support of a majority of the population, charge the imposition of Bill 2 will seriously exacerbate the existing crisis in the health care system.
The mass action takes place the day before anti-labor Law 14, adopted in April, goes into effect. This law gives the government the power to declare any strike illegal and to force workers to submit to binding arbitration. Legault says he was inspired by federal anti-strike laws used recently by Ottawa to end strikes by thousands of rail, postal and port workers.
Air Canada flight attendants set an example for all workers by defying a back-to-work order, making gains the bosses hoped to avoid.
Gov’t attacks on union democracy
Bill 3, another target of the demonstration, aims to restrict the ability of unions to use their dues to fund what the government calls “political action,” like building the Nov. 29 protest. It says that unions can only use dues on bargaining and contract issues, unless authorized to do more by a vote of the union membership conducted under strict government supervision.
Unions will also be required to submit to a yearly financial audit by the government, to obey mandatory minimum quorums for votes at union meetings to take effect, and other interventions into internal union affairs.
This law flies in the face of a Canadian Supreme Court ruling that unions have the right to use union dues to fund “political action” as they see fit. The Court also ruled that the right to strike is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.
Bill 3 “is an anti-worker, anti-union, pro-business law designed to weaken unions. We will stand and fight against this law of political interference and control,” the Steelworkers union said. “It’s time to mobilize.”
Other proposed laws include Bill 1 and Bill 94, which are aimed at weakening the unions by dividing workers by nationality and religion in the name of the “secularization” of Quebec society. They also give the use of French priority, barring use of other languages on the job, even in informal conversations.
These government moves against labor violate political freedoms supposedly protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They also ban many public workers from wearing any clothing associated with their religion, like the Muslim hijab, Jewish kippah or Sikh turbans.
These moves are “part of a series of government actions” that are “aimed at strengthening government powers,” the League for Rights and Freedoms said. They “are a threat to democracy, the rule of law and human rights.”
“The Nov. 29 demonstration is crucial for the defense of our unions and their ability to mobilize the power of the working class,” said Katy LeRougetel, Communist League candidate for mayor of Montreal in the recent municipal election. “It points to the need for working people to break with the parties of the bosses and take political power into our own hands. All out Nov. 29!”