The CSQ is filing some twenty certification motions with the Quebec Administrative Labour Tribunal aimed at unionizing teacher trainees.
The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) is launching a campaign that will concentrate on school service centres or school boards where it already represents teaching members.
However, the debate will have to be held as to whether these trainees can join a union, as a union is an “association of employees.”
The Labour Code specifies that an employee is “a person who works for an employer in return for remuneration.”
Teaching trainees are not paid.
In the construction industry, for example, apprentices are paid and they are unionized.
“The majority of traineeships for male-dominated jobs are paid, while those for female-dominated jobs are not,” said CSQ second vice-president Anne Dionne. “At the CSQ, we are recognized for that: feminist struggles are part of our DNA.”
The CSQ, through its Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE), already represents the majority of primary and secondary school teachers in Quebec, as well as education professionals and school support staff.
“Now these trainees are given responsibilities, they are asked to do classroom work. With the staff shortage we are experiencing, the trainee in a classroom, in an institution, is called upon to do a lot more; they are asked to do a lot more than just a training course,” said Dionne.
“Decent pay to value the work done by these people will surely be one of the first priorities.”
As for the other demands for the trainees, the CSQ first wants to listen to what they have to say in order to draw up their list of demands — if it succeeds in organizing them.
It will be up to the tribunal to determine whether the conditions for accrediting a union have been met.
Generally speaking, a labour relations officer will certify a union if there is agreement on the bargaining unit, on the persons affected and if the union represents more than 50 per cent of the employees affected by the application. When a proportion of between 35 and 50 per cent is reached, a vote by secret ballot is ordered.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), a large pan-Canadian union, has also taken steps to unionize these interns.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 10, 2025.
