Concertation sociale et négociation collective au Québec en temps de crise. Restructurations et découplage

By maintaining its level of employment, Quebec seems to have escaped the effects of the economic and financial crisis of 2008-9. In this paper we analyze in-depth the contribution of worker and employer trade unions representatives in safeguarding jobs. Indeed, the employment initiatives which the organizations for social dialogue ? exceptional in North America ? implemented contributed to avoiding many mass lay-offs. The continued employment for this period must also be viewed within the context of the profound transformation of the economic structure of the province: huge job losses in the manufacturing sector were balanced out by the creation of jobs in the service sector. The content of the over six thousand collective bargaining agreements put in place in Quebec over the past fifteen years was therefore examined during the course of this research and it is apparent that there is a decoupling between centralized social dialogue (at provincial, sector and regional levels) and the collective bargaining occurring at the establishment level. Identifying this gap brings to light important elements, namely those linked to the capacities of representatives of both worker and employer unions in Quebec to participate in the modernization of the province?s economy.