The organization said the bill set rules that would hamper democratic debate
The Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université has challenged Bill 3 (An Act to improve the transparency, governance and democratic process of various workplace associations) in a brief entitled “Une atteinte injustifiée à la liberté d’association et à la démocratie syndical.”
Labour minister Jean Boulet tabled Bill 3 on October 30. The bill stipulates that activities considered to be beyond a union’s main mission could not be funded with mandatory fees but only with optional fees. Ineligible activities included the initiation of legal challenges over laws’ constitutionality or validity, advertising, and participation in social movements.
Optional fees would be subject to approval via majority vote prior to collection. The law’s referendum rules also mandate unions to give voting rights to non-members.
Union leaders pushed back against the bill at a news conference held at a Quebec convention center on Sunday November 23. Boulet was “declaring war on labour unions,” said Patrick Gloutney, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Quebec branch, in a statement that was published by CBC News.
FQPPU said the bill would implement mechanisms to limit freedom of association and restrict unions’ power to defend members’ interests in court. It also set a double-accounting requirement because unions that are at least 200 strong would need to release audited financial statements to members; union leaders said small unions would struggle with the cost of this requirement.
The federation added that the distinction between “principal” and “optional” dues was undefinable. The limitations set by the law would impact unions’ ability to contest even legislation that may affect fundamental rights, in addition to hindering unions’ participation in litigation impacting members' social or economic rights.
Unions could also be sanctioned for activities that could not be identified in advance due to the restrictions’ lack of clarity; the FQPPU said this breached fundamental justice principles set by the Supreme Court. In particular, faculty unions’ ability to defend the university mission would be hampered and their ability to challenge legislative measures impeding academic freedom limited.
The FQPPU recommended that the government rescind the bill. At minimum, it should eliminate proposed new articles 20.1.1, 20.3.2 and 47.0.1 to 47.0.5 of the Labour Code; references to these should be removed from other provisions as well.
The federation also suggested that the government remove the words “and present them at a meeting to the members of the certified association that is affiliated with or belongs to it” from new article 47.1, para. 3 of the Labour Code.
“Bill 3 is part of a larger trend aimed at weakening those who, in a democratic society, are specifically tasked with questioning, debating, and holding power to account. Taken individually, several of the bill's measures may seem technical, even legitimate; but the reform as a whole risks seriously eroding our democracy,” FQPPU president Madeleine Pastinelli said in a statement.
Special consultations on Bill 3 commenced on Tuesday November 25.
