Bill 101 | An attack on the health and safety of women
The CAQ government went ahead in October 2025 with the passing of Bill 101, contested since last spring by the FIQ and other unions because of its impact on female workers’ health. This CAQ bill is a direct attack on the occupational health and safety (OHS) rights of women workers in the public health and education sectors.
Understanding Bill 101
In July 2020, a nurse was violently attacked in an improvised psychiatric unit in Montérégie-Est. She was strangled for many minutes before the police arrived.
Unfortunately, this sad case is just one of the growing number of workplace injuries for women workers in the health and education sectors. Even though they only make up 19.2% of total jobs in Quebec, these workers account for 35.7% of all recognized employment injuries.
Given these alarming statistics, it would be logical to think the government would offer them better occupational health and safety protection. However, despite promises made, the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, is proposing the exact opposite with Bill 101.
Bill 101 considerably reduces the duties of health and safety committees and health and safety representatives in the health and education sectors, in addition to removing deadline requirements for prevention programs.
Given that 81% of the workforce in the healthcare sector is made up of women, this is an affront to women’s health and safety at work.
Why is the FIQ against it?
- Women health and social services workers are among those most affected by workplace injuries. In 2022, they accounted for 13.6% of total jobs, but nearly 38% of compensated workplace injuries. It is absolutely outrageous to reduce prevention mechanisms in their fields.
- A systematic attack on women’s rights. This bill amends and withdraws certain prevention mechanisms in the health and education sectors, which are predominantly female. It creates a glaring inequality with other predominantly male sectors, such as construction, where these protections are maintained.
- The CAQ refuses any dialogue. The FIQ submitted a brief on the bill but was not invited to present it to the parliamentary committee responsible for studying it. Excluding the FIQ from the consultations means excluding the voice of more than 80,000 healthcare professionals from the debate. In 2025, women workers in the public network must be heard.
