How to get a union at your job in Montreal
There are two parts to getting a union in Quebec.
The Social Part
The first and most important ingredient is creating a team that can identify workplace problems, turn them into clear demands, and coordinate collective means of pressure.
When it comes to making long-lasting and meaningful changes, no piece of paper, law, or social media call-out will ever substitute for you and your co-workers’ ability to leverage your power to interrupt the work you do that makes your employer money.
The Legal Part
The second ingredient is getting your licence to strike.
While everyone can team up to make demands and to strike, your employer is not legally obligated to negotiate with you or keep you on staff if you participate in a strike unless you have a kind of government-issued licence for your union. This licence is typically known as union certification, and it is issued by the Administrative Labor Tribunal (Tribunal administratif du travail.).
To gain access to the spectrum of legal entitlements Quebec law makes available, you must:
Have a simple majority of people working at your company sign a union membership card and pay at least $2.
Establish a bonafide union by agreeing on a constitution and electing official representatives.
The law obligates your employer to talk to you in accordance with certain established standards of good faith. But it does not obligate your employer to agree with you. Nor does the law obligate your negotiations to reach any particular outcome.
The law in Quebec is premised on the assumption that making real change depends almost entirely on your team’s willingness and ability to stop doing your job, in part or in whole, as a negotiating tactic.
Does this sound too simple and easy? Your instincts are correct.
Unfortunately, getting organized in Quebec can be challenging in both of the above areas of activity.
While history is full of stories of spontaneous workplace revolts, for most of us making change at work in a way that is safe, effective, efficient, meaningful, and long-lasting requires careful planning taken with help from folks who have the benefit of hindsight from prior experience.
This is where the General Union can help.
Our aim is to apply our collective know-how to lower the cost and the risk inherent in the process of getting a union at your job in Montreal.
An experienced member of our team is standing by to help walk you through the A - Z of getting organized.