US EditionMcGill faculty groups file constitutional challenge of Quebec labour bill
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, AUG 5 – The faculty associations argue Bill 89 expands essential services and grants the labour minister authority to end strikes, affecting 500 academics' bargaining rights.
- Four faculty groups representing 500 academics at McGill University filed a constitutional challenge on August 5, 2025, against Quebec's Bill 89 in Quebec Superior Court.
- The groups oppose Bill 89 because it grants the provincial labour minister the authority to halt strikes and broadens the requirement for essential services during work stoppages, which they argue infringes on the constitutional right to strike.
- Faculty representatives argue the bill encourages employers to delay negotiations, hoping the government will intervene, thereby weakening collective bargaining and threatening academic independence.
- Law professor Evan Fox-Decent stated the legislation is a “frontal attack” on workers’ rights and cited the 2015 Supreme Court ruling recognizing strike rights as the irreducible minimum of freedom of association.
- The law, passed in May, is scheduled to take effect in November and may impact labour relations and the handling of labour disputes throughout Quebec.
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According to them, "Bill 89" is unconstitutional.
Winnipeg Free Press
McGill faculty groups file constitutional challenge of Quebec labour bill
Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada
McGill faculty challenge Quebec's Bill 89, arguing it violates constitutional right to strike
Four McGill University faculty associations representing more than 500 academics have filed a court challenge against Quebec’s Bill 89, arguing the provincial legislation violates the constitutional right to strike.
MONTREAL — Four groups of McGill University professors have challenged the constitutionality of a bill that allows the Quebec Minister of Labour to put an end to strikes. The associations, representing 500 academics, state that the bill restricts the constitutional right to strike. They ask the Quebec Superior Court to declare the bill unconstitutional and invalid, saying that it is a "frontal attack" on workers' rights. The law was passed in Ma…
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