Quebec teachers’ federation taking strike-ending law to Canada’s top court
Posted December 5, 2025 1:57 pm.
The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) is preparing to contest Quebec’s new legislation that allows the government to end a labour dispute and impose arbitration, taking the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE) and its affiliated unions are thus following the CSQ, the CSN, the FTQ, the CSD and the APTS, who had done the same in recent days by filing an appeal with the Superior Court.
The law was passed last spring, but it came into effect on Nov. 30. Bill 14 is better known by its former name, Bill 89.
It allows the minister, if he believes that a labor dispute “causes or threatens to cause serious or irreparable harm to the public” and that mediation has been unsuccessful, to refer the dispute to an arbitrator. The arbitrator would then be called upon to determine the working conditions of the employees concerned.
The new law also goes beyond maintaining strictly essential services based on health and public safety. It also includes provisions aimed at maintaining “services ensuring the well-being of the population in order to prevent the social, economic, or environmental security of the population from being disproportionately affected.”
The FAE, like other trade union organizations, argues in its appeal that freedom of association and freedom of expression are thus infringed.
She alleges that the concept of services aimed at ensuring the well-being of the population contravenes the Quebec and Canadian charters of rights “in that it allows for the restriction of the right to strike of teaching staff who are members of the applicant unions.”
“Such a limitation” goes beyond “services whose interruption may have the effect of endangering the health or safety of the public,” argues the trade union federation, which represents 65,000 members.
“While educational services have never been considered essential services under Quebec, Canadian and international law, the new regime significantly expands the services that must be maintained during a strike period, which constitutes a substantial infringement on the freedom of association protected by the charters of rights,” adds the FAE.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
