Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux

I

Introduction

Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux or Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), labor organization based in Québec, Canada. The CSN is an organization of more than 2,300 local unions that represent workers in Québec, principally those employed in government. The CSN had its origins as an organization of unions affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, but it dropped its ties to the church in 1960. In 1998 the CSN represented 242,800 workers, or 6.2 percent of unionized workers in Canada and 24.4 percent of those in Québec.

II

Structure and Activities

The CSN is an organization of unions within the province of Québec, formed to support the general interests of unions and workers. The organization is made up of 22 regional councils and nine federations. Each federation links workers in a general occupation or industry such as public service or the construction trades. Each local union affiliated with the CSN belongs to a federation and to a regional council. Unlike a union, the CSN does not directly negotiate with employers on behalf of workers. Rather, the CSN lobbies the government on behalf of workers and coordinates the policies and bargaining strategies of its member unions. The CSN does not officially affiliate with political parties, but it has had close ties at various times to the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois (PQ).

III

Catholic Unionism

Catholic unionism in Québec was inspired by the 1891 encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Rerum novarum (Of New Things). The papal letter acknowledged the brutal working conditions in many industries of that time. It recognized a limited right of workers to negotiate for improvements, as long as that right did not threaten the peaceful relations between workers and employers. As Québec became industrialized in the early 20th century, Catholic priests offered to mediate for striking workers if they would adopt Catholic principles, which emphasized the common interests of workers and employers. In 1907 a few priests took the initiative in organizing local unions. However, the Catholic unions were largely unsuccessful, and most of them failed.

After World War I (1914-1918), Catholic labor organizers began actively recruiting again, particularly in the construction industry. In 1921 the Catholic unions met in Hull, Québec, to form the Canadian and Catholic Confederation of Labour (CCCL; known in French as the Confédération canadienne et catholique du travail), a labor organization that claimed 17,600 members at its inception. Support for the CCCL fell in the 1920s but rose after 1934, when the clergy persuaded garment and textile workers to leave their Communist-led unions for unions affiliated with the CCCL. By 1946 the CCCL claimed 62,290 members.

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After World War II (1939-1945), more militant leaders emerged in the CCCL. These new leaders often clashed with the conservative leadership of Québec’s provincial government, which had long maintained close ties to the Catholic Church. The church was deeply divided by the conflict between the unions and the provincial government, particularly in a bitter strike by asbestos workers in 1949, when the provincial government sent police to break picket lines. Montréal's powerful Archbishop Joseph Charbonneau openly supported the strikers, and the church removed him as archbishop soon after. Workers struggled against the establishment again in 1952 when a CCCL union of store clerks battled the Dupuis Frères department store, an icon of French Canadian commercial pride.

IV

Québec Nationalism

By the late 1950s, most experts predicted that the CCCL, having become more secular and more activist, would join the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the major labor organization in Canada. Instead, the CCCL turned from Catholicism to Québec nationalism, which argued for modernization within Québec and greater independence for Québec within Canada. The turning point came in 1960 when the Liberal Party displaced the conservative, antilabor regime of Québec premier Maurice Duplessis. The new government launched the Quiet Revolution, a movement that modernized and secularized Québec government and society. The unionists of the CCCL embraced the changes that the government was trying to implement. Jean Marchand, leader of the Asbestos Strike of 1949, became president of the CCCL and brought a new name and direction to the organization. In 1960 the group officially discontinued its Catholic affliation and changed its name to the Confédération des syndicats nationaux.

The new CSN had close ties to the Liberal Party. In 1964 the Liberal government in Québec permitted government workers to join unions for the first time, and many of them joined CSN unions. In 1965 Marchand left to join the Cabinet of prime minister Lester Pearson, and more radical nationalists replaced him. They began to call for a social and economic revolution in Québec. In 1972 a group of public-sector unions in Québec known as the Common Front, including unions affiliated with the CSN and the CLC, waged an illegal general strike. The leaders of the strike, including CSN general president Marcel Pépin, were jailed. Three CSN officials, unhappy with the CSN’s radical turn, broke away to form the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (Democratic Trade Unions Central), with 30,000 members, almost all in private-sector jobs.

Since its break with the Liberal Party in the late 1960s, the CSN has actively supported the PQ, the party that has pushed for Québec sovereignty within Canada. While most active unionists in Québec support Québec sovereignty, the ties between the CSN and the PQ became strained after Lucien Bouchard became premier of Québec in 1996 and instituted wage cuts and layoffs in the public sector. See also Labor Unions in Canada.

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