Press release
Challenge to Bill 28 – Union organizations denounce discrimination against women workers in Quebec

Union organizations representing workers in the health, social services and education sectors are filing constitutional challenges before the Superior Court today, seeking to have the discriminatory provisions of Bill 28, An Act to amend certain labour laws, arising from Bill 101, declared invalid.

This legislation excludes workers in these sectors from Quebec’s general occupational health and safety prevention regime, which is intended to apply to all workplaces across the province, relegating them instead to a lesser prevention framework. Union spokespersons unanimously denounce a decision that perpetuates a historic disadvantage affecting women, as this exclusion directly impacts sectors where women represent the overwhelming majority of the workforce.

“The government is fully aware that workers in these sectors face some of the highest health and safety risks. The Minister of Labour himself acknowledged and denounced this historic discrimination in 2021. Yet four years later, he has chosen to exclude them from the general prevention regime. This discrimination and this direct violation of the right to equality cannot be tolerated,” jointly declared union spokespersons Robert Comeau (APTS), Caroline Senneville (CSN), Éric Gingras (CSQ), Mélanie Hubert (FAE), Julie Bouchard (FIQ) and Olivier Carrière (FTQ).

It is worth recalling that in 2021, Quebec finally modernized its occupational health and safety regime through the Act to modernize the occupational health and safety regime (LMRSST), allowing workers in historically neglected sectors to obtain the same protections that have been available to industrial sectors since 1979. The Regulation respecting prevention and participation mechanisms in establishments was scheduled to complete this rollout in 2025, taking into account real risks and the specific realities faced by women workers.

However, by adopting Bill 28, the government chose to remove the health, social services and education sectors from this regime, relegating them to prevention measures that are significantly inferior, even compared to those provided for the lowest-risk sectors of the economy. This decision comes despite the fact that, in 2024, more than one-third of all recognized workplace accidents in Quebec occurred in the education, health care and social assistance sectors. And why? Because, according to the government, it would cost too much.

“We refuse to accept that the women who care for, teach, support and sustain our society be relegated to a second-tier system. We have a duty to denounce, to challenge and to fight for the workers we represent, for our society, and for the patients, children and all members of the public who depend on our public networks.”

The union organizations reaffirm their determination to obtain justice and to have the exclusion imposed by Bill 28 recognized as not only unjustified, but also unconstitutional. They are calling for section 46 of the Act to be struck down and for workers in health care, social services and education to finally benefit from the protections to which they are entitled.

Organizations challenging Bill 28 and participating in the coordinated filing:

Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL)
• Service Employees Union, Local 800 (SEU 800–QFL)
• Quebec Union of Service Employees, Local 298 (SQEES-298–QFL)
• Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE–QFL)
• Syndicat des employées et employés professionnels et de bureau (SEPB–QFL)

Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux (APTS)

Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN)
• Fédération des employées et employés de services publics (FEESP–CSN)
• Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ–CSN)
• Fédération des professionnèles (FP–CSN)
• Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS–CSN)

Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ)
• Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement (FSE–CSQ)
• Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS–CSQ)
• Fédération du personnel professionnel de l’éducation (FPPE–CSQ)
• Fédération du personnel de l’enseignement privé (FPEP–CSQ)
• Fédération de la santé du Québec (FSQ–CSQ)
• Association provinciale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (APEQ)

Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE)

Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ)