The Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ; Quebec Labour Congress) is the third biggest

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, by membership. It was founded in 1946 when three earlier unions merged to form the ''Corporation générale des instituteurs et institutrices catholiques de la province de Québec'' (CIC; General Corporation of Catholic Teachers in the Province of Quebec). Léo Guindon was its first president. It changed its name in 1967 to ''Corporation des enseignants du Québec'' (Quebec teachers corporation), and then again in 1974 when it officially became a

labour union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...

to ''Centrale des enseignants du Québec'' (CEQ; Quebec teachers labour congress). It finally became the ''Centrale des syndicats du Québec'' in 2000 to acknowledge the fact that its membership base had expanded beyond teaching profession. Today over 100,000 of its 175,000+ members are

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

workers, working primarily in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

. Most (69%) of its members are

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. The CEQ was the first Quebec trade union to appoint a woman (

Lorraine Pagé Lorraine Pagé (born 1947) is a Canadian politician and trade unionist.

) as its president, in 1988. Louise Chabot has been president since 2012 and Marc Nantel, Line Camerlain and Pierre Jobin are 1st, 2nd and 3rd vice presidents. Daniel B. Lafrenière is the secretary-treasurer. Centrale des syndicats du Québec currently acts as a liaison for the J. W. McConnell Family Foundation as well. It is a member organization of

Education International Education International (EI) is a global union federation (GUF) of teachers' trade unions consisting of 401 member organizations in 172 countries and territories that represents over 30 million education personnel from pre-school through universi ...

and

Public Services International Public Services International (PSI) is the global union federation for workers in public services, including those who work in social services, health care, municipal services, central government and public utilities. , PSI has 700 affiliated ...

External links

CSQ homepage
(mostly in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Centrale des syndicats du Quebec Trade unions in Quebec 1946 establishments in Quebec Organizations based in Montreal Trade unions established in 1946 Provincial federations of labour (Canada)

See also

External links