Quebec Education recruitment freeze: CSQ complaint dismissed

Four CSQ federations were dismissed by the Tribunal administratif du travail in their complaint against the Quebec government, in connection with the effects of the hiring freeze in the education sector. However, it was not on the merits of the issue that their complaint was dismissed, but on a question of delay.

These federations alleged that the hiring freeze constituted an obstacle to union activities, because it prevented the implementation of clauses in collective agreements that had just been negotiated.

These clauses made it possible, for example, to offer greater job stability or employment prospects to employees with precarious status. They could, for example, gain access to a regular contract after a certain period of time.

It was the federations of support staff and professionals in the schools and colleges that had filed this obstruction complaint against the Treasury Board, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Higher Education and the employer negotiating committees.

The time limit issue

However, even before hearing the merits of the complaint, Administrative Judge Michel Maranda had received a motion from Quebec City, alleging that the 30-day time limit for filing the complaint, stipulated in the Labour Code, had been exceeded by a few days.

The Tribunal administratif du travail agreed, rejecting the CSQ federations’ complaint as being out of time.

The first meeting at which the freeze on the recruitment of staff who do not provide direct services to students was announced – was held on Oct. 25, 2024. However, the complaint lodged by the CSQ federations had been filed on Nov. 29, explained Administrative Judge Maranda.

During the hearings, the parties debated at length exactly when the federations had become aware of the effects of the recruitment freeze on their members. Was it at the first meeting on Oct. 25? Or when the job titles affected by the freeze had been specified? Or at some other time?

Administrative Judge Maranda ruled: “The government’s announcement of Oct. 25, 2024 is clear and unambiguous. It is from this moment that the federations become aware, or should have become aware, of the alleged contravention. It is a very specific event which gave rise to the complaint”.

“Although the Tribunal notes that the federations put questions to the government between the meeting of Oct. 25 and Nov. 14, 2025, and that they are becoming aware of certain answers, notably through government documents in the form of ‘Questions and Answers’, there is nothing to indicate that they are becoming aware of new facts that could suddenly allow them to conclude that there is obstruction,” the Tribunal adds.

“The federations did not file their complaint within the 30-day time limit stipulated in the Code. This is a condition for recourse, and the complaint must therefore be dismissed immediately, without the need to assess its merits”, he concludes.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews