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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Quebec's Trade Union Movement: Getting out of the trap of consultation - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Quebec's Trade Union Movement

﻿<br﻿>﻿Getting out of the trap of consultation

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by Bernard Rioux and Ginette Lewis﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, July - August 1999﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Workers in Quebec, as in the rest of Canada and the world, are under attack. In the 1970s, Quebec workers earned a deserved reputation for militancy and have since mobilized on occasion in large numbers. But the unions have never created a mass labour party of their own. The PQ attempts to co-opt unions through means such as participation in economic summits. In French, the process is referred to as "concertation." It bears some resemblance to tripartism, the 1970s concept of cooperation between government, management and labour. There is no exact English equivalent but it is translated as consultation. ﻿</font>﻿

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What is the state of Quebec's trade union movement on the last May Day of the Millennium?

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Globalization = flexibility and de-unionization﻿</b>﻿

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Today in Quebec, more than a million people work part-time, on call or as self-employed workers. This constitutes a third of the work force. The rate of unionization is steadily declining. It has dropped from 49.7 per cent in 1992 to 40.3 per cent today (from 73.8 to 70.2 per cent in the public sector and from 36.9 to 28.6 per cent in the private sector). This decrease is due to the difficulties in unionizing newly created jobs in the service sector, as well as the development of large scale contracting out.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The labour federations in Quebec want to reform the Labour Code and ease the rules for unionizing workers. Employers also seek to reform the Labour Code for entirely different reasons. They want mechanisms that "assure the flexibility and suppleness that are necessary in the context of globalization of markets." (LE DEVOIR, March 30, 1999). Put clearly, employers want to be able to generalize contracting out for all businesses and use it get rid of unions. They do not want reforms to the Labour Code to counter the current decrease in unionization. We can count on the PQ to pay attention to these wishes. This is an in important battle that will soon face the Quebec labour movement.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<b﻿>﻿The public sector struggle﻿</b>﻿

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

There are important mobilizations in the private and public sectors. The number of workplace conflicts has tripled over the past months. But victories for the most part are lacking. Public and para-public sector negotiations will mark the labour movement in 1999. For many years there have not been genuine negotiations. Decrees have followed decrees, resulting in increasing rollbacks in wages and working conditions. A combination of insecurity and arbitrary employer decisions has developed in education, health and public services. Public sector workers' salaries are now 13.2 per cent behind those of private sector workers. Halting the employer/state offensive within the public sector is a crucial issue. A trade union common front has been created, but it remains a bureaucratic common front, containing from the beginning numerous tensions that reveal its fragility. A massive united and democratic mobilization is essential to make the Parti Quebecois government back down. But the subjective conditions to make this possible are still to be built.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<b﻿>﻿The struggle for pay equity in danger﻿</b>﻿

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The offensive against pay equity is developing. The federal government has given the signal for this offensive through its refusal to accept the Supreme Court decision requiring pay equity for women in the federal public service. The PQ passed its own equity law in November 1996. But it has exempted itself from its own law, claiming it had already achieved equity in 1989 by restructuring wages. Employers use the same logic to avoid being disturbed by the law. Jacques Leonard, the minister responsible for the public sector negotiations, hastens to state: "Pay equity is one of the issues of the negotiations. But if, because of this, the public sector came to take the lead over the private sector, it would never end." (LE DEVOIR, March 27-28,1999) Bell Canada followed this example. Instead of granting pay equity to its telephone operators, it sold their jobs to the Americans at bargain prices. The bosses of Quebec, the Caisses populaires Desjardins, Provigo and Zellers are also looking to exempt themselves from the equity law. What a nice response to women, considering that equity simply aimed to give women what is already given men.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<b﻿>﻿End consultations with government and employers﻿</b>﻿

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

To achieve unity it is necessary to end the social consultations, which have brought nothing but poisonous fruit for the worker's movement. The large-scale summits have paralyzed the labour movement in the face of radical budget cuts to health and education, by allying with PQ's zero deficit objective. But a break from the policy of consultation with the PQ will be possible only if labour organizations begin occupying the political terrain and link their support for Quebec independence - and the will to build an egalitarian society - by linking social and national demands in a clear way. This requires a break from the PQ. Until this break from the PQ begins, the defense of even the most immediate working class and popular demands remain difficult, hindered by the absence of a specific political alternative.

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

To open up new perspectives, the Quebec labour movement must place itself at the centre of a vast popular coalition, working with the women's movement, youth and senior citizens groups, immigrants and all those who fight for a more egalitarian society. There must be an end to the consultations with employers and government. An active labour-popular unity must be developed: with young people by supporting student struggles against education cuts and student debt; with welfare recipients and the unemployed who are defined as second class citizens who can be cut and controlled shamelessly; and with the workers of Ontario who are grappling with the policies of Mike Harris; and with other popular movements in the United States, in Mexico, or elsewhere who are fighting for their lives, their dignity and their living conditions. The labour left in Quebec is attempting to rebuild itself around these perspectives. The task will be long and difficult. But it is unavoidable.

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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Bernard Rioux and Ginette Lewis are members of Gauche Socialiste.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿


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