Quebec Construction Workers Defend
Safety
Standards
Workers Call
for
Release of Report on
Crane Operator Safety
Overturned crane, November 2018.
On February 28, the Independent Committee on
Crane
Operator Safety
tabled its report to Quebec's Minister of Labour. Out of concern
for
the safety of both workers and the public, the Crane Operators'
Union,
Local 791G, affiliated with FTQ-Construction, has requested that
the
Minister immediately make the report public, along with the
briefs and testimonies submitted to the committee. In a February
28
statement, the union wrote:
 "Since
the announcement of the committee's creation in July 2018, crane
operators have been impatiently awaiting its conclusions, which
must
confirm the importance the new government attaches to the safety
of
workers and the public.
"Local 791G, which represents all crane
operators, has
been
opposing such regulatory changes for several years. In an effort
to
raise awareness amongst elected officials, the union has tripled
its
representations to various actors, decision-makers and
governmental
authorities to express its concerns and propose
solutions."[1]
The Coalition Avenir Québec government's
Minister of Labour
confirmed he has received the report and said that he will first
meet
with the committee's two members and then decide what steps to
take.
Crane operators are determined to have their two
demands met: that
the new regulation that drastically reduces crane operator
training be
withdrawn and that compulsory training at the prior level be
restored,
and that a roundtable be created of all concerned parties,
including
instructors, to look into the problems linked to the crane
operator
sector and construction site safety.
Note
1. The regulation brought in
last
year
eliminated the compulsory nature of crane operator professional
training, consisting of 870 hours of training provided by
professionals
in an educational institution. In competition with that
vocational
training, the Quebec Construction Commission (CCQ) and
the former Couillard Liberal government introduced a much lower
150-hour on-site training provided by the companies. They also
created
a mere 80-hour course for boom trucks with a maximum capacity of
30
tonnes, after which a worker becomes a qualified driver. It is
precisely this type of crane that tips over the most and causes
the
most
damage. This was all done without consultation with or approval
by
crane operators. Crane operators have made a remarkable
contribution to
worker and public safety by contesting the regulation in various
fora
and finally refused to work for about a week, in June 2018, to
illustrate how serious their opposition was. They received wide
support
from the public. The government and the CCQ resorted to
repression,
through a decision of the Administrative Labour Tribunal, which
declared that the crane operators' actions amounted to an illegal
strike, with the CCQ threatening to prosecute them for
"intimidation."
Within the context of growing popular support for crane operators
and
their
determination to continue their struggle, the government created
the
Independent Committee on Crane Operator Safety.
This article was published in
Number 8 - March 7, 2019
Article Link:
Quebec Construction Workers Defend
Safety
Standards: Workers Call
for
Release of Report on
Crane Operator Safety
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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