Bill 3: Weakening of Critical Voices and a Threat to Union Democracy, Warns New FQPPU Analysis

MONTREAL, Nov. 25, 2025 /CNW/ - As the special consultations of the Committee on Labour and the Economy begin today, the Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université (FQPPU) is releasing its brief, Une atteinte injustifiée à la liberté d'association et à la démocratie syndicale, and reaffirming its deep concern regarding Bill 3. This reform clearly undermines democratic counterweights by limiting unions' ability to debate, challenge, intervene and defend their members.

"Bill 3 is part of a larger trend aimed at weakening those who, in a democratic society, are specifically tasked with questioning, debating, and holding power to account," says Madeleine Pastinelli, president of the FQPPU. "Taken individually, several of the bill's measures may seem technical, even legitimate; but the reform as a whole risks seriously eroding our democracy."

The Federation's brief demonstrates that Bill 3 introduces unprecedented--and unworkable--mechanisms that restrict freedom of association, hinder unions' ability to defend members' interests in court, establish an arbitrary double-accounting requirement, and create an administrative burden that diverts union resources from their core mission.

Interference in the democratic organization of associations
The bill imposes referendum rules likely to weaken participation in democratic debate--an essential element of union life. Even more troubling, it extends voting rights to non-members, creating a situation unique in Quebec by requiring unions to grant voting rights to people who are not members (section 1, pp. 5–7)

Restrictions based on unjustified, vague and unworkable distinctions
The bill requires a split between "principal dues" and "optional dues"--a mechanism based on categories that cannot be clearly defined (section 2, pp. 8–16). These restrictions:

• limit unions' ability to challenge certain laws, even when fundamental rights are at stake;
• restrict their participation in litigation affecting members' social or economic rights;
• introduce so much vagueness that unions could be sanctioned for activities impossible to identify in advance.

This vagueness is so severe that it violates the principles of fundamental justice established by the Supreme Court (p. 14).

FQPPU recommendations
The Federation therefore calls for the withdrawal of the bill, or at the very least:

• the removal of the proposed new articles 20.1.1, 20.3.2 and 47.0.1 to 47.0.5 of the Labour Code, as well as all references to these articles in other provisions;
• the removal of the words "and present them at a meeting to the members of the certified association that is affiliated with or belongs to it" from new article 47.1, para. 3 of the Labour Code.

A threat to counter-powers and to the university mission
For faculty unions represented by the Federation, the effects would be severe:

• limits on their ability to defend the university mission;
• obstacles to contesting legislative measures that infringe on academic freedom;
• a shrinking civic space for critical voices that are essential to public debate.

The FQPPU therefore urges the government to withdraw Bill 3 or, at the very least, to remove the provisions most anathema to union democracy. It reaffirms its willingness to collaborate on any reasonable review of the legislative framework, provided it respects the freedom of association, the essential role of democratic counterweights, and the overall democratic health of Quebec.

Since 1991, the FQPPU has served as the coordinating and representative body for Québec's university faculty.

www.fqppu.org/

SOURCE Fédération québécoise des professeures et professeurs d'université (FQPPU)

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