The Supreme Court of Canada has just ruled that the fact that a management association is excluded from the possibility of obtaining union certification by the Quebec Labor Code was constitutional. This therefore does not violate the charters of rights.
The case considered by the Supreme Court of Canada was that of the Association of Executives of the Société des casinos du Québec.
She had filed a request for union accreditation in November 2009, even though she represented executives, and not employees. She represents first-level executives, primarily operations supervisors.
The Quebec Labor Code gives a fairly general definition of what an employee is, but it specifically excludes executives. And this is what the association contested.
Initially, the association won its case before the Administrative Labor Court, which ruled that this exclusion of executives violated the freedom of association protected by the charters of rights.
After the Superior Court, then the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court finally ruled: the exclusion from the Quebec labor relations regime of the Association of Executives of the Société des casinos is indeed constitutional.