City of Québec, March 13, 2024—CSD Construction presented a brief to the Committee on Labour and the Economy today as a response to Bill 51, which amends Act R-20, also known as the Construction Act. CSD Construction expresses serious concerns about the proposed bill. The union believes that the interests of workers and regions are being neglected in favour of the employers’ associations’ demands.
In its 75-page brief, CSD Construction shared reliable research and concrete examples that prove that workers cannot be held solely responsible for generating a true increase in productivity. It must be the result of an increasingly skilled workforce, better work planning and greater integration of new technologies.
Keeping workers working
Of all the people starting in the industry, 56% of female workers and 35% of men leave after five years. CSD Construction is proposing concrete solutions to compensate for the bill’s shortcomings regarding workforce retention. “Right now, the health, safety and mental and physical well-being of our workers leaving the industry in droves is our most urgent and unavoidable priority. The proposed bill will only make this worse. The measures presented will increase the pressure on workers’ shoulders, unfairly burdening them with the task of solving the construction industry’s productivity problems,” explains Carl Dufour, President of CSD Construction.
To keep the workforce employed, CSD Construction proposes, among other things, the introduction of structuring measures for continuing education based on a work-study model, the guarantee of safe working conditions, stronger protections against harassment, and the recognition of occupations, including labourers, as trades. In addition, through better work planning, the number of annual working hours for many workers could be increased which, consequently, would help retain workers.
Workers cannot compensate for employers’ inability to manage worksites
CSD Construction believes that contractors could guarantee greater productivity with better work planning and management. “We have to stop making workers and trades pay for gaps in planning and management. All too often, design errors or communication problems about changes and delivery delays bring work to a standstill, which results in cost overruns and lost working hours. Work-related injuries could also be avoided if employers complied with their obligations. An injured worker doesn’t increase their team’s efficiency,” adds the president. The union also maintains that the government has a role to play in the planning of public contract awards.
Employers using shortcuts to saddle workers with responsibility and push towards deregulating the construction industry
The stated argument for versatility and the pressure exerted by certain groups are nothing less than a crusade to deregulate the construction industry and not truly related to productivity goals. “We believe we need to be careful when drawing direct links between deregulation and economic vitality. We can easily claim that rules are holding back productivity. It sounds good, but it turns our attention away from the real issues facing the industry,” says Luc Vachon, President of the Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD).
Workers want to keep the power to negotiate regional hiring priority in their collective agreements
CSD Construction is asking that regional hiring priority, which guarantees that local jobs and regional economies are protected as well as ensures that the qualified workforce stays in regions, continue to be negotiated in collective bargaining agreements. Carl Dufour states: “We categorically refuse to allow the jobs of our regional workers to be sacrificed for economic considerations. We demand that the bill’s articles prohibiting the negotiation of mobility clauses be withdrawn.”
A brief that reflects workers’ concerns
“Our approach is nuanced, focused on finding concrete solutions to improve our industry. We hope the Minister will heed our 40 or so recommendations. It is imperative for him to understand the concerns of construction workers and then fix his bills’ shortcomings,” concludes Carl Dufour.
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