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

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, 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 (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

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 the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

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, pu ...

. Most (69%) of its members are

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

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

Lorraine Pagé Lorraine Pagé (born 1947) is a Canadians, Canadian politician and trade unionist.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 383 member organizations in 178 countries and territories that represents over 32 million education teachers and education support personnel fr ...

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