(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

The presidents of the Quebec Federation of Labour of Quebec (QFL-FTQ) and the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU-CSN), Michel Arsenault and Claudette Carbonneau, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which aims to develop stronger union solidarity.

     The Oct. 26 memorandum bars "poaching" between the two organizations during the period of "change of allegiance" leading up to bargaining for the next collective agreements covering some 400,000 public and parapublic sector employees.

     "Such a protocol has no precedent in Quebec," Claudette Carbonneau told the media. Instead of soliciting public sector workers to switch unions, she said, unions should focus elsewhere.

     Michel Arsenault added that "Unity is strength. If we are together, we are much more likely to succeed than if we squabble in the months preceding the negotiations."

     The FTQ and the CSN want to regain their full rights to collective bargaining in the public and parapublic sectors. Those rights were severely limited by a unilateral decree of the Charest government in December 2005.

     Now, the money and energies that were deployed by the FTQ and CSN in poaching each other's members will focus on organizing non-unionized workers. The FTQ and the CSN will conduct a joint campaign to promote trade unionism and labour action, and to win new members. "There is still space. There are plenty of non-unionized workers, especially in the private sector," said Carbonneau.

     The two labour leaders also hope that their unity will help reduce the impact of the global economic crisis on Quebec workers. Both point out that the Quebec finance minister, Monique Jérome-Forget, talks about the size of the provincial surplus, which was achieved largely on the backs of public sector workers.

     Carbonneau wants a "Keynesian wind" to blow away Quebec's zero-deficit law, which she says will plunge the provincial economy deeper into recession. "This is the time for major funding programs to revive the economy," she argued, a sentiment echoed by Michel Arsenault.

     Meanwhile, other sections of the Quebec labour movement, including the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), the Federation of Health Interprofessional du Quebec (FIQ) and the Alliance of professional and technical personnel of Health and Social Services (APTS), have built their own alliance. They are not covered by the CSN-FTQ protocol.