QUEBEC – The Quebec legislature has passed mandatory back-to-work legislation compelling the province’s striking Crown prosecutors to go back to their jobs immediately.
The 61-50 vote, coming Tuesday morning after an all-night debating session, saw all Liberal government members vote for the law.
The Opposition Parti Quebecois, Action democratique du Quebec, Quebec solidaire and independent opposition legislators voted against.
In all, about 1,500 Crown prosecutors and government lawyers walked off the job in a legal strike that began Feb. 8.
Liberals said the back-to-work legislation is essential to get the justice system functioning normally again, as the strike has halted criminal trials across the province.
The two associations representing the prosecutors and lawyers have served notice they believe the bill is unconstitutional and plan a court challenge.
They have also suggested that if Quebec does not have the means to pay its prosecutors, perhaps criminal prosecutions should be left to federal prosecutors.
The resignation of about 40 of the 48 chief and assistant chief Crown prosecutors, who are management and did not participate in the two-week strike, may complicate the assignment of lawyers.
The government has indicated it will not accept the resignations and has muzzled the chief Crown prosecutors, forbidding them from speaking to the media.
The association representing Quebec’s striking Crown prosecutors said Monday a back-to-work law, forcing an end to their two-week old strike without according them wage parity, breaks the vital relationship of trust between the prosecutors and the government.
And Christian Leblanc also said he is "surprised" and that 80 per cent of Quebec’s chief prosecutors and their deputies have resigned to protest against the special law.
Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier said the management lawyers, not affected by the special law, just asked to be reassigned, suggesting their would be on the job Tuesday when the prosecutors return to work.
"It is not a request to be reassigned," Leblanc said, predicting chaos. "They quit."
The special back-to-work law states the lawyers must end their legal strike by 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday or face fines from $100 to $500. Union officers may be fined up to $35,000 and their union up to $125,000.
The lawyers may lose pay if they refuse to co-operate with the government, and the burden of proof will be on the lawyers to prove they are not defying the law.
Bill 135 imposes a settlement to end the strike.
The lawyers’ salaries will rise by six per cent over five years, retroactive to March 31, 2010, the same pay scale offered to Quebec’s 475,000 public-sector workers, including civil servants, hospital and education workers.
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