Quebec Labour and the Referendums

TLDR: The authors conducted an institutional comparative analysis of Quebec's three largest trade union centrals with a view to demonstrating that organized labour's primary basis for supporting sovereignty has changed considerably over time, while unions have tended to downplay class division in favour of an emphasis on Quebec's uniqueness and the importance of preserving the collective francophone identity of the nation.

Abstract: . The Quebec labour movement's decision to withdraw its support for Canada's federal system in the 1970s and instead embrace the sovereignist option was unquestionably linked to the intersection of class and nation in Quebec. In this period, unions saw the sovereignist project as part of a larger socialist or social democratic societal project. Because the economic inequalities related to ethnic class, which fuelled the labour movement's support for sovereignty in the 1970s, were no longer as prevalent by the time of Quebec's 1995 referendum, organized labour's continued support for the sovereignist option in the post-referendum period cannot adequately be explained using the traditional lens of class and nation. This paper employs an institutional comparative analysis of Quebec's three largest trade union centrals with a view to demonstrating that organized labour's primary basis for supporting sovereignty has changed considerably over time. While unions have not completely abandoned a class-based approach to the national question, they have tended to downplay class division in favour of an emphasis on Quebec's uniqueness and the importance of preserving the collective francophone identity of the nation. Party–union relations, the changing cultural, political and economic basis of the sovereignist project and the emergence of neoliberalism in Quebec are offered as key explanatory factors for the labour movement's shift in focus.Resume. La decision du mouvement syndical quebecois de retirer son soutien du systeme federal, dans les annees 1970, et d'embrasser l'option souverainiste, a ete liee incontestablement a l'intersection de classe et nation au Quebec. Dans cette periode, les syndicats ont vu le projet souverainiste en tant qu'element d'un plus grand projet de societe a caractere social democratique ou socialiste. Toutefois, puisque les inegalites economiques associees a la classe ethnique qui avaient pousse le mouvement syndical dans le camp de la souverainete n'etaient plus aussi prononcees lors du referendum de 1995, l'analyse traditionnelle de classe et nation ne peut plus expliquer le maintien de sa position souverainiste durant la periode postreferendaire. Cet article se fonde sur une analyse comparative et institutionnelle des trois plus grandes centrales syndicales quebecoises en vue de demontrer que les motifs premiers de l'appui syndical au projet souverainiste ont change considerablement avec le temps. Meme si les syndicats n'ont pas completement abandonne l'approche militante surla question nationale, ils ont relegue les divisions de classes au second plan et plutot mis l'accent sur le caractere distinct du Quebec et sur l'importance de preserver l'identite francophone collective de la nation. Les relations entre les syndicats et les partis politiques, la base culturelle, politique et economique du projet souverainiste, et l'introduction du neoliberalisme au Quebec sont presentees en tant que facteurs principaux expliquant l'evolution de la position syndicale a l'egard de la question nationale.