MontrealFive major unions representing more than a million workers are contesting Quebec’s union law just a day after it went into effect, saying it infringes on workers’ right to strike.Law 14 came into force Sunday despite labour minister’s efforts to fast track itCBC News · Posted: Dec 01, 2025 8:49 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Caroline Senneville, president of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), at a protest Saturday in Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)Five major unions representing more than a million workers are contesting Quebec’s union law just a day after it went into effect, saying it infringes on workers’ right to strike. Law 14, adopted in the spring, allows the provincial government to intervene and force striking public transit workers into arbitration and provide minimum services for the “well-being” of the public.In a joint statement published Monday, the unions say the law places too much power in the hands of the labour minister.”From the outset, we warned that Law 14 would encourage employers to prolong negotiations while awaiting ministerial intervention, that it would exacerbate labour relations,” the statement said.The unions filed a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court on Monday in an attempt to have the law struck down, arguing it infringes on their constitutionally protected right to strike and would strip them of a crucial bargaining tool. On Saturday, the unions participated in a protest against the Coalition Avenir Québec government that brought thousands to the front doors of Premier François Legault’s and Labour Minister Jean Boulet’s Montreal offices. Beyond the five unions challenging the law, four additional unions and various community groups joined the protest. The demonstrators denounced Law 14 alongside a broad range of issues, spanning from “SAAQclic to Northvolt,” according to a news release. Boulet had previously attempted to move up Law 14’s coming into force to earlier in November, when Montreal’s public transit agency was subject to service disruptions due to striking maintenance workers and bus drivers, among other groups. In a post to X Sunday, Boulet said the law will help manage the effects of labour disputes on the population when these are “disproportionate” and that the mechanism to send workers to arbitration will be “limited to cases where there is serious or irreparable harm to the population.”The five unions now challenging the law in court are the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS), Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), and the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD Construction).They represent workers in both the private and public sector from the construction industry to health care and education.
Quebec unions mount legal challenge against newly implemented labour law
