UN agency condemns labour violations by Quebec government

Labour leaders pushing to have Bills 7 and 8 quashed by the Charest administration

Ottawa (3 April 2006) - The International Labour Organization (ILO), an agency of the United Nations, has condemned the Liberal government of Quebec Premier Jean Charest for violating workers' human rights.

Issued March 29, the ILO ruling finds that two laws passed by the Quebec government in 2003, removing the union status of 25,000 residential care workers, were clear violations of ILO freedom of association principles.

The UN body has also recommended the Quebec government amend Bills 7 and 8 to bring them into conformity with international standards and specifically the right to join a union.

The ILO decision is similar to others handed down recently against other Canadian provinces - notably B.C., Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Each of the provinces has violated international human rights and labour standards that Canada has pledged to uphold.

All of the rulings followed official complaints filed jointly by the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and its Component unions on behalf of their members.

The ILO is a tripartite body made up of representatives from business, government and unions. It is responsible for monitoring and upholding international labour standards and safeguarding workers' human rights.

Canada and all provinces are signatories to many ILO Conventions, and have made the commitment "to respect, to promote and to realize, in good faith" the principles underlying these standards.

Immediately after the most recent ruling, several labour leaders in Quebec requested a meeting with the Quebec government to demand that Bills 7 and 8 be quashed. "It's a great day for democracy," said Claudette Carbonneau, president of the Confederation of National Trade Unions.

While the ILO was considering the complaint against Bills 7 and 8, the Quebec government also rammed through a separate law imposing an unprecedented seven-year contract on 500,000 hospital workers, teachers, civil servants, school support staff and other provincial public sector workers.

This piece of legislation, Bill 142, is considered one of the most outrageous violations of workers' human rights in Canada. It has now become the subject of another ILO complaint filed by Quebec public sector unions.

Rene Roy, secretary-general of the Quebec Federation of Labour, says the latest Quebec laws are worthy of a totalitarian government. "I think the Charest government behaves like a banana republic,'' he said of the Liberal regime currently in power in the province. NUPGE

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