Quebec’s Common Front Strikes Are a Blueprint for Labor Power
Quebec’s public sector witnessed an unprecedented winter of discontent as the Common Front coalition, uniting four major unions, took to the streets. Separate unions brought the total number of workers involved in these historic strikes to well over a million.
“Common Front, All United!” is seen on a building in Quebec as public sector workers strike on November 21, 2023, in Montreal, Canada. (Mathiew Leiser / AFP via Getty Images)
This winter saw one of the biggest strikes in Canadian history.
Roughly 560,000 public sector workers in Quebec’s multiunion coalition Common Front (Front commun) hit the picket lines in a series of job actions. These historic strikes saw education and health care workers walk off the job in a series of work stoppages to fight back against insulting wage offers, deteriorating public services, and a government committed to austerity.
Four union federations — Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), and Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS) — struck for eleven days in total in November and December, including a seven-day general strike between December 8-14. Striking teachers even blocked the ports of Montreal and Quebec City on December 21 as talks with the province dragged on.
Sorry, but this article is available to active subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.