Quebec unions launch legal fight against Law 14

After months of speaking out against it, five major unions are taking the government to court.

On Monday, the CSQ, CSN, FTQ, CSD and the APT filed a lawsuit in Quebec superior court, arguing the legislation infringes on workers’ rights and gives the government unprecedent power.

“The minister by himself will have the possibility to stop a strike — to suspend the strike — and by himself to say it’s enough and that’s it, there’s no more strike,” said Éric Gingras, CSQ president. “And the Supreme Court [has] stated it’s a constitutional right to strike.”

A few weeks ago, Boulet had attempted to move up Law 14’s implementation when Montreal’s public transit system was paralyzed due to striking maintenance workers and bus drivers.

Gingras says the CAQ is choosing a fight that doesn’t need to happen.

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“All the new laws that are being implemented and shown to the public is that he wants to pick a fight with unions,” said Gingras.

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“He probably sees that in some surveys in gives them a couple of points for the next election and we know that’s what he’s doing right now.”

In a post to X on Sunday, Quebec Minister of Labour Jean Boulet defended the legislation, saying the law will help manage the effects of labour disputes on the population when they are disproportionate.

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He added that sending workers to arbitration will be limited to cases where there is serious or irreparable harm to the population.

But some experts say the courts will need to determine whether that balance actually holds.

“I think that the court will need a first real case to see how the minister is behaving — will it stop a strike? Will he intervene?” said Marc Ranger, the former Quebec director for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

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Still, Ranger says the unions have strong arguments, especially around the impact on the right to strike.

“That’s the real battle here: how, in fact, will those new criteria affect the exercise of a strike,” he said.

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“If with those criteria it’s so limited, that your strike has no effect, then I think it will be overturned.”

2:22 Despite Boulet’s fast-tracking of Bill 14, weekend STM strike still looms