Education unions filing labour tribunal complaint against Quebec over hiring freeze

CSQ president Eric Gingras lays out the union's plans for this year during a press conference, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024 in Montreal. Gingras argues that Quebec's recruitment freeze violates the unions' collective agreements. (Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press)

The CSQ is filing a complaint against the Quebec government over the recruitment freeze in effect since Nov. 1.

In its complaint, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec argues that this recruitment freeze constitutes an obstacle to its union activities, in that it prevents it from implementing measures provided for in collective agreements that had just been negotiated.

The CSQ, some of its unions and four of its federations - those of professionals and support staff, representing the college, primary and secondary levels - are also seeking payment of punitive damages and material damages - yet to be quantified.

Three ministers are specifically targeted in the complaint filed with the Administrative Labour Tribunal: Bernard Drainville (Education). Pascale Déry (Higher Education) and Sonia LeBel (Treasury Board).

These union organizations explain that various clauses had been negotiated in recent collective agreements, to ensure greater stability or job prospects for staff with precarious status, for example.

Some clauses concerned temporary workers hired for extra work, for example. Others concerned the possible continuation of fixed-term employment.

“There are several articles in agreements affected where, professionals, support staff, we've tried to improve the lot of colleagues, including that a precarious contract can move to a regular contract after a certain time. Well, when you suspend that, you increase precariousness and put negotiated collective agreements on hold,” said CSQ president Éric Gingras in an interview.

By unilaterally declaring a recruitment freeze affecting staff who do not provide direct services to students, Quebec has thwarted many of these efforts. Provisions duly negotiated with Quebec were thus “rendered inoperative,” argue the union organizations in their complaint.

Gingras refers to those education workers who are less visible to the public, such as storekeepers, specialized workers, administrative secretaries and pedagogical advisors.

“We see them much less, but the reality is that everything depends on everything in our schools and colleges. These are environments where one person's work influences another. And, in the end, if someone isn't there, it's the other person next door who does his or her job,” he said.

In their complaint, the organizations also criticize the fact that the duration of this recruitment freeze “is subject to the goodwill of the Treasury Board.”

The ministers, i.e. “the respondent parties, grant themselves decision-making power over the application of the said provisions, without any possible contestation by the complainant federations. In this way, the respondent parties are changing the terms and application of the collective agreements unilaterally, without any discussion or negotiation with the complainant parties,” they argue.

Quebec is thus flouting the unions' role as bargaining agents, “calling into question their usefulness,” their role, and further undermining their credibility with their members, they assert in their complaint.

“In an ideal world, we wouldn't even go to the Administrative Labour Tribunal; the government would back down. We're quite prepared, on our side, to see what the possibilities are. We understand that the government has an issue; we're ready to talk. But it can't do this unilaterally, and above all it can't do it whenever it wants, under the pretext that it has a budget to prepare,” said Gingras.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 11, 2024.