Workers Demand Safety at Work
Quebec Construction Workers Step Up Fight for Recognition of Their Demands
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A key problem Quebec construction workers face is that when they speak up to demand safe working conditions they are criminalized by the construction companies and the government and its agency, the Quebec Construction Commission (CCQ).
Workers are demonstrating on Tuesday, December 13 in Montreal in front of the offices of the Labour Standards, Pay Equity and Workplace Health and Safety Board (CNESST) to demand that health and safety representatives, who, according to the legislation, are to take office on construction sites on January 1, 2023, be trained by workers and not by employers.
The statistics show the urgency of this demand, which is part of the overall demands of construction workers in defence of their rights.
In 2021, 207
workers lost their lives in Quebec as a result of work-related
accidents or occupational diseases. This is an increase of 20 per cent
over 2020. Of these deaths, 71 occurred in the construction industry,
an increase of 60 per cent from 2020. In total, across all sectors of
the Quebec economy, 105,692 occupational injuries were recorded, 960
more than in 2020
Fatalities in the construction industry increased from 25 per cent of total workplace fatalities in 2020 to 35 per cent in 2021, while construction workers represent only five per cent of the employed workforce.
In several speeches during and after the election, Premier François Legault said that the construction sector is essential for building infrastructure for energy and trade corridors, for building facilities for the extraction of critical minerals required by the United States for its war machine, and other projects. The Premier said that the shortage of construction labour is the main problem to be solved at the moment.
There is indeed a demand for labour in the construction sector right now. The statistics on hours worked show this. According to the most recent statistics available there were 195 million hours worked in construction in 2021 by about 190,000 workers, an all-time high. In 2018, hours worked were almost 150 million, by about 160,000 workers, a higher ratio of workers to hours worked than in 2021.
Claim of a Labour Shortage in Construction
The number of workers leaving the industry each year is about 15 per cent. In 2020 there were 22 per cent more departures than in 2019. Workers are leaving for many reasons including poor working conditions, rampant acceleration of the pace of work, lack of job security with no seniority or recall lists in the vast majority of sites, intimidation by companies when workers denounce unsafe conditions, refusal of the CNESST to guarantee safe working conditions, among others.
The response of the government and the CCQ to the resulting "shortage" is to lower the standards for training of workers to get them into the sector faster.
Crane operators have been fighting for many years, and continue to fight, against the abolition of the requirement that operators receive formal training and obtain a Diploma of Vocational Studies before they can operate a crane. This requirement resulted in a significant reduction in deaths and injuries resulting from accidents involving cranes.
Now, in the name of dealing with the labour shortage, we are witnessing a general phenomenon throughout the construction sector called "opening the labour pools." A massive number of workers, including a very large number of young people, are entering the construction sector without any professional training. The CCQ allows anyone with a 150-hour job guarantee to enter the construction industry as an apprentice. Young people are being offered the opportunity to earn good wages without having to go to school.
According to one construction union, the drop-out rate for workers who enter the industry without training is much higher than the rate for those who have graduated from training schools or have relevant work experience. Many do not even complete their 150 hours.
According to the union, 9.3 per cent of graduates leave the sector on average after one year, compared to 20.6 per cent of non-graduates. After five years, 28.3 per cent of graduates leave the sector compared to 41.6 per cent of non-graduates.
The government and the CCQ are openly promoting this adventurist method in the name of addressing the labour shortage.
Another issue raised by workers is the training and job security of health and safety representatives.
An Act to modernize the
occupational health and safety regime,
received royal assent on October 6, 2021 despite massive worker
opposition. It is a full-scale attack on workers' right to healthy and
safe working conditions. Among other things, it leaves prevention
programs in the hands of employers.
The law mandates the presence of health and safety representatives on construction sites, previously required on only the largest sites. These representatives are elected by the workers and are supposed to work independently of the employers. Officially, they cannot be dismissed or disciplined by employers for performing their duties.
These representatives are supposed to be in place on January 1, 2023 across Quebec.
The December 13 demonstration in front of the CNESST offices is aimed at ensuring that these representatives are not only in place but are trained by the unions and are able to act independent of employers. The big construction companies are opposed to this and want to control the training.
In addition, because there is no job security in construction, no recall or seniority list except in very rare cases, and workers have to apply for a job on every new project, there is no protection for health and safety representatives. Officially, the employer does not have the right to fire a worker who is a health and safety representative, but routinely, workers who stand up for their rights are fired and told that there is no more work available for them, that they should look for work elsewhere.
Workers are demonstrating on December 13 to oppose this arbitrariness, and to demand that health and safety representatives be fully trained by workers and their unions.
Construction workers are putting forward demands including job security, planning of the work to avoid overwork in peak periods followed by periods of a shortage of work and adequate training for all construction workers.
The
Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L) strongly supports these demands of
construction workers and their right to organize and make their claim
on the immense value they create for the economy.
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 58 - December 12, 2022 - No. 58
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520582.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca