The CSN is a democratic and open union organization.

At all levels, important decisions for the life of the union must be the result of debate.

The CSN makes room for the expression of opinion. It also upholds its own decisions, once the democratic process leading to them has been carried out.

Autonomy

Affiliated unions are autonomous organizations. Autonomy preserves a union’s capacity for self-determination as well as to carry out its struggles and take necessary decisions by themselves and for themselves. We accept that the power of decision must always reside as near as possible to the place where these decisions will be applied. This autonomy is enriched by a permanent commitment to organize in solidarity with other parts of the movement. Free unions, responsible for their decisions and actions, form the functional basis for a democratic and united movement.

Freedom

In promoting union autonomy, the CSN has been committed to freedom since its founding – a freedom that transcends the corporatist interests of specific groups and cements the exercise of active solidarity.

A desire to base its actions on solidarity has led the CSN to adopt original operating principles. At once demanding and stimulating, these principles encourage members and organizations to ensure that the movement’s values are shared and respected.

Solidarity

Workers are organized into unions, which practice solidarity by affiliating at three levels – the Regional Council, the Federation, and the Confederation – which in turn support their day-to-day actions, granting them a reach and a scope that they would otherwise lack. A Professional Defence Fund, in which all unions participate, gives concrete meaning to solidarity. Organized in this manner, this solidarity, which is based upon freedom, ensures that the struggles of each smaller group are supported by the larger whole.

From the CSN’s Declaration of Principles.

The CSN places the human being at the forefront of its concerns, both in its actions and its ideology.

Dignity

The establishment of social relationships based on justice, respect for autonomy, and freedom is the first and indispensable condition for achieving dignity. There is no progress without respect for the person, and for his or her physical and psychological integrity. There can be no liberation that is not based on the certainty that, prior to conceptions and ideologies, there exist women and men to whom economic and social development must be directed.

Ethics

The CSN believes in the need for an ethic to nourish the thought and action of activists, so that moral values, such as the search for the common good, guide them constantly.

The CSN considers that in a democratic society, trade unionism is the instrument of liberation for workers.

Trade unionism remains one of the main pillars without which a vigorous democracy cannot be assured.

Rights and duties

Union members must be able to count on rights that ensure the free exercise of trade unionism. These rights, the application of which contributes to the improvement of members’ working and living conditions, entail duties in return: the collective strength thus acquired must, among other things, be used to support those who cannot rely on it directly. Hence the necessity to enlarge the union’s alliances with all forces committed to social progress, in order to constantly enlarge the camp of freedom.

Operation

The unionism practiced at the CSN has its own rules of operation. Debate leads to rallying around the identified objectives. To pursue victory over those in our ranks who do not share the same analysis is foreign to union democracy. Its objective is, on the contrary, to persuade and to convince, so that, after debate, the quality of which must remain a constant concern, orientations and actions emerge which are supported by the greatest number of people.

Work

The CSN believes that, of all the human activities that allow the integration of people into society, work remains, even today, the most important.

The union movement must take action against mind-numbing and dehumanizing work, so that men and women may fully develop in their work; that they can attain genuine control over this crucial aspect of their life in society; that the organization of work favours the development of all their creative potentials; that workplaces are characterized by harmonious relationships, namely those that are respectful of natural ability, individual capacity, and equity between men and women; and that the protection of workers’ physical and psychological integrity is guaranteed.

Only the true democratization of workplaces can ensure that these objectives are achieved.

The CSN believes that only a democratic system can allow the true development of men and women in all their dimensions: social, economic, political, and cultural.

The State

In our democracy, it is imperative that the state assume its responsibilities with respect to implementing measures that guarantee social solidarity and the fairest possible distribution of wealth produced. The state must act through laws, agreements, and treaties, through taxation, by supporting public health, education, and social service networks by all necessary means, and by taking measures capable of ensuring income security for all citizens. The fragile situation in which the people of Québec, and their culture, find themselves in North America demands vigorous intervention on the part of the only state whose primary role is to defend all the interests of this people.

For the CSN, this state, which has all the powers necessary to ensure the social, economic, and cultural development of a people, must be Québec. French is the language of work – the common language. Recognizing and respecting the historical rights of the English-speaking minority and of the Indigenous nations, the Québec that we are working to build is a land of solidarity between people, between groups, between communities, between regions, and between generations – a land of solidarity where diversity is respected.

Civil Society

This state, the primary instrument of the community, must give full scope to citizens who are active in civil society, encouraging their expression by way of decentralized, non-bureaucratic operations. To the CSN, fully independent from other parties, this civil society – of which the union is itself an integral part – appears to be the place most appropriate for political action.

It is through civic education that the idea of citizenship may be developed and take root. By establishing fraternal relationships between people, the individual and collective development of all components of Québec society can be ensured. The CSN works to develop this eminent concept.

The Social Role of the economy

Economic development that does not have social development as its goal is without meaning. The CSN affirms the primacy of the individual person and the integral importance of their personal development; in a world where economic power is increasingly centralized, the union maintains that development must serve the interests of the whole, instead of being diverted to the benefit of the affluent few. The conditions for sustainable development must be established and rigorously applied.

The CSN strives, in every way possible, to ensure that individual and collective rights are fully respected.

The CSN fights all forms of discrimination identified in the charters to which it adheres.

The protection and promotion of rights are essential conditions for the development of a high standard of life in society, including: the rights to health, education, work, and housing, which ensure the dignity of individuals; the rights of association, demonstration, and assembly, as well as to information and freedom of opinion and expression, which enrich collective life; the rights to unionize, to negotiate, and to strike, which guarantee respect for workers.