Founded 1921 Affiliation ITUC | Members 300,000 | |
Full name Confederation of National Trade Unions Native name Confédération des syndicats nationaux Key people Jacques Létourneau, president
Jean Lortie, secretary general | ||
The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) (Confederation of National Trade Unions), is the second largest trade union federation in Quebec by membership.
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History
It was founded in Hull in 1921 as the Confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada (Catholic Workers Confederation of Canada). It became the CSN only in 1960 when it became secular. The CSN developed a close relationship with the PLQ and worked together to reform Québec's labor law in 1965 to extend collective bargaining to government employees. However, by the late 1960s the CSN had fallen out of favor with the provincial government as it became radicalized and threw its support behind social movements.
In 1971, the three leading unions, the CSN, the CEQ teacher's union, and the Québec Federation of Labour (FTQ) published a statement in support of an independent and socialist Québec run by directly-democratic unions. The three unions then voted to form the Common Front, a syndicalist organization demanding a unified minimum wage for their 250,000 members. When negotiations failed between the Common Front and the Liberal government, the unions launched the largest general strike in Canadian history. When the strike's leaders were jailed for defying orders to return to work, the strike lost momentum and the Common Front broke apart.
Structure
The CSN is characterized by decentralized administration: local unions are organized into federations by sector of activity and regional councils, and are very independent from the central organization. It is also the most politically active trade union in Quebec, having, for instance, officially advocated Quebec sovereignty since 1990.
The Confederation currently has about 300,000 members, distributed evenly between men and women, and between the private and public sectors. Marc Laviolette was replaced as president in 2002 by Claudette Carbonneau. Louis Roy, Roger Valois, and Denise Boucher are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd vice-presidents, respectively. Lise Poulin is the secretary and Pierre Patry is the treasurer.
The Montreal Central Council of the CSN endorsed Québec solidaire for the 2007 Quebec Election.