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Quebec Crane Operators Voice Safety Concerns Campaign to Restore Mandatory Crane Operator Vocational Training
Workers' Forum congratulates the crane operators for persisting in this just work to break through the wall of silence on their conditions. The fight they are waging for their own safety as well as the safety of all is of great importance. The public has also become more aware that accidents involving cranes have increased since the new regulations abolished the mandatory 870-hour Diploma of Vocational Studies (DEP). The people are becoming aware of the arbitrary and abusive nature of the new regulations, which were introduced without the input or consent of crane operators and construction workers. Construction workers have strongly denounced the fact that the change was not discussed or negotiated with them but imposed by the government and the CCQ even though it directly impacts their well-being. The government and the CCQ gave themselves the right to replace the 870-hour mandatory vocational training program with a broadly inferior one directly controlled by the construction companies. The weakening of the training standard is a blatant conflict of interest involving the construction companies. The government and the CCQ have pushed the change through using the power of the state machine even though this endangers the lives of workers and the public. The methods used to do this without the consent of the workers includes an apparatus of propaganda and disinformation to present the lowering of the level of training as a necessary measure to deal with a labour shortage. Construction workers have consistently exposed the fraudulent and reckless connection the government and CCQ have made between any perceived shortage of workers and the necessity to have proper training of crane operators. With regards to a so-called crane operator labour shortage, the President of the Union of Crane Operators has pointed out that throughout 2019 almost one out of six available crane operators worked fewer than 500 hours.
The Journal de Montréal article describes the six accidents that have occurred in Quebec involving the operation of a crane since last September. In all cases, the person operating the crane had not obtained a DEP. The article also quotes a spokesperson for the Quebec Association of Structural Formwork Entrepreneurs who exposes the charade of the company training that has replaced the mandatory DEP. The entrepreneur admits that someone such as himself is not in a position to train aspiring crane operators in all the situations they will encounter during their work. At most, all the company can do is show them how to pull the levers. According to the entrepreneur, the 870 hours of professional training are in reality a "minimum." The article also refers to government data showing that vocational training in all trades in Quebec is on the decline. According to figures provided by the Ministry of Education, programs for all trades have 8,800 fewer students today than in 2014-2015. Before the government's unilateral change in 2018, professional training was mandatory for someone to become a crane operator. Since the imposition of the new regulations, the number of crane operators without professional training is more than those who have successfully completed training and received a DEP. Without a mandatory professional character, all talk of on-site training in any trade is a fraud and arbitrary. The government and agencies such as the CCQ are deprofessionalizing the construction and other trades in the service of large companies. They are using such methods to force down wages and allow those who own and control the construction sector to manipulate the working class in favour of their own narrow private interests without regard for safety and other important issues. The government cannot escape the blame and shame for the increase in accidents involving the operation of cranes. Public opinion is becoming more informed through the interventions of the crane operators and construction unions with pressure mounting on the government to back down and reinstate mandatory crane operator vocational training. (Photos: FTQ-Construction, E. Dupuis)
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Quebec crane operators
are stepping up their interventions to mobilize
public opinion to force the Quebec government
and the Quebec Construction Commission (CCQ) to
stop their abuse of power and restore mandatory
crane operator vocational training. The efforts
of the crane operators and their union have
convinced certain mass media to begin publishing
reports that provide actual information on the
situation. The 
Boom-truck
overturned in Laval, 