The leaders of the Quebec trade union say that employees can get the same fate as Air Canada Stewardessen
Montreal – The presidents of two large trade unions of Quebec fear that employees in the province can soon be confronted with the same treatment as striking stewardesses of Air Canada under a provincial law that was adopted in May.
The law gives the Labor -Minister of Quebec the authority to terminate a labor dispute by imposing arbitration when the strike of lockout is probably deemed to cause serious or irreparable damage to the public.
Magali Picard with the FTQ and Éric Gingras with the CSQ on Monday said that Quebec employers now have an incentive to drag their feet on negotiations while waiting for the government to intervene.
The two trade union presidents drew a parallel between the new legislation in Quebec and the federal legislation that Ottawa allows to force two parties in a binding arbitration in binding arbitration.
Ottawa did exactly this in the conflict between Air Canada and the Union of the Stewardesses.
“Federal intervention … is a scenario that repeats itself and becomes the norm in the negotiating strategies of employers. They let Fester Fester Fester, and then they cry on the shoulder of the government and ask to intervene between false pretenses,” Picard said. “I predict that this is what will happen in Quebec.”
Her trade union is affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who represents Air Canada Stewardesses throughout the country. That trade union drew a back-to-work order on Monday, so that the Federal Labor Relations Board was concluded that the strike is illegal.
During a press conference in Montreal on Monday, Gingras said that the stewardesses ‘exactly what Quebec trade unions can experience’ experienced under the new law – namely ‘an employer dragging his feet, who goes back in negotiations and who waits for the government to intervene’.
The trade unions have already shown that they set up a legal challenge of the new law, which will take effect on November 30.
The law of Quebec expands the types of services that must be maintained in the case of a strike of lockout, “to prevent the social, economic or environmental safety of the population being disproportionately affected.” The health and public services sectors are excluded from the legislation.
This report from the Canadian Press was first published on August 18, 2025.
Lia Lévesque, the Canadian press
