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March 3, 2020
Quebec Industrial Workers Speak Up
Crane Operators and Their Allies
Persist in the Fight Against the Wrecking
of Training Programs
  
• The
Concerns of ABI Workers as the Aluminum
Smelter Restarts - Interview,
Éric Drolet, President, United Steelworkers,
Local 9700
Quebec Industrial Workers Speak
Up
Crane operators demonstrate in front of
CNEEST offices in Montreal, May 5, 2018,
demanding changes to regulations on training
be rescinded.
It has been almost two years since the
Government of Quebec and the Quebec Construction
Commission (CCQ) seriously weakened the
regulations governing the training of crane
operators who do one of the most dangerous jobs
in the entire construction industry. Crane
operators in Quebec continue to reject the
regulations and defend their training developed
over many years.[1]
The previous Quebec Liberal government
abolished the mandatory requirement that crane
operators complete the Diploma of Vocational
Studies (DEP) at the end of April 2018. This was
done without the consent or input of crane
operators, the construction unions or vocational
teachers. The vocational course to become a
crane operator included 870 hours of practical
training in a professional educational setting.
The government decree made the diploma optional.
An on-site training program of only 150 hours
was introduced, which the construction companies
themselves provide and oversee. The government
and CCQ also replaced the vocational course and
diploma with an 80-hour course for the operation
of boom trucks with a maximum capacity of 30
tonnes. This type of boom truck is precisely the
crane that overturns most frequently and causes
the most damage. Established in 1997, the DEP
played a direct role in a 66 per cent decrease
in the number of deaths in Quebec related to the
use of cranes.
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Our workers' security, not negotiable
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Crane operators and their allies also object to
the fact that the current Coalition Avenir
Québec government has mandated the CCQ to
implement the recommendations of the Committee
of Experts it set up in September 2018 in the
midst of the crane operators' fight. The
Committee of Experts wrote in its report issued
in March 2019, that the operation of a crane is
one of the most dangerous operations in the
industry and that mandatory vocational training
remains the reference training, but it
recommended that it should be optional,
according to the dictate of the government and
CCQ. It proposed as an alternative a period of
three weeks of initial training in an
educational institution followed by on-site
training provided by construction companies.
These recommendations are unacceptable and they
are in complete opposition to what workers
actually said at the hearings held by the
committee itself in 2018.
Two years later the crane operators are still
asking that the new regulations, now modified in
the recommendations of the Committee of Experts,
be withdrawn and that the compulsory vocational
training of crane operators be maintained.
They continue to present their case to the
government, in particular to the Minister of
Labour, to demand compulsory vocational
training. They have the support of several
unions, in particular many FTQ-Construction
locals and the teachers' union that represents
the teachers of the courses leading to DEP.
Crane operators report that they are also
meeting with construction employers'
associations to ask for their support in
maintaining the mandatory nature of vocational
training. They report that some employers'
associations support this demand, not wanting
safety to be decreased on construction sites and
the number of deaths to increase to previous
levels.
Above all, crane operators are constantly
investigating what is happening on construction
sites and where cranes are operated. They report
that since June 2019 at least five accidents
have occurred in Quebec involving the use of
cranes, in which the operator had not received
vocational training and where the accident was
due to errors made by the operator due to lack
of training. Crane operators are intervening so
that the accident investigation is done in a
professional manner by the inspectors of the
CNESST (Labour Standards, Pay Equity, and
Workplace Health and Safety Board) so as to
identify the real causes of the accident. CNESST
has recently admitted that there is an increase
in accidents involving the operation of cranes
and crane operators are urging the CNESST to
take measures to defend and reinstate the
training of the operators. We're talking here
about reported accidents, not accidents that go
unreported when they don't cause injury or loss
of work time or when they're simply masked by
pressure to silence workers.
Overturned crane, November 2018.
Meanwhile, the CCQ and the government continue
their work in the service of large construction
companies, against the training and safety of
construction workers and against combative
unions like the crane operators' union under the
guise of dealing with a labour shortage and of
increasing access to the construction trades.
Construction workers have repeatedly
demonstrated that one cannot speak of a labour
shortage when, year after year, about 18 per
cent of construction workers and salaried people
leave the trade each year. The construction
industry is not facing a labour shortage but a
problem of worker retention, in particular
because of increasingly unsafe working
conditions. Regarding the opening of the trades
to a larger number of construction workers,
crane operators and construction workers argue
that this requires that worker training be
maintained and actually strengthened, not
weakened and left in the hands of the companies.
The government and the CCQ organize for
construction sites to be totally dominated by
narrow private interests concerned only with
their own profits, while workers having to fend
for themselves, without strong collectives
enabling them to speak out in their own name,
defend themselves and exercise control over
their training and working conditions. The
government and the CCQ must render account for
their actions that endanger the safety of
workers and the public, and the CNEEST must
fulfill its mandate, which is to protect the
health and safety of workers, as a matter of
principle without which production cannot take
place.
Workers' Forum salutes the determined
fight of the crane operators and construction
workers in defence of their health and safety
and the health and safety of the public and
calls upon all workers to stand with them.
Note
1. For more information
on the fight of the crane operators, read:
"Stand
with Quebec Crane Operators and Construction
Workers Fighting for Their Rights
and the Rights of All!" - Pierre Chénier,
Workers’ Forum, June 19, 2018.
- Interview, Éric Drolet,
President, United Steelworkers, Local 9700 -
5,000-strong solidarity march with
locked-out ABI workers, Trois-Rivières, May 25,
2019
Workers at the ABI aluminum smelter in
Bécancour ratified their collective agreement on
July 2, 2019, after 18 months of an intense
fight against Alcoa/Rio Tinto which had locked
them out. In this struggle, the ABI workers
inspired workers across Quebec, Canada and in
many countries, finding ways and means to fight
the Alcoa/Rio Tinto cartel’s concessionary
dictate and refusal to negotiate and Quebec
government’ disgraceful role as ally and
representative of this global cartel against the
collective interests of workers and Quebec and
its natural resources. Workers’ Forum
wishes all the best to the ABI workers in their
fight in defence of their rights and dignity as
they are now back at work.[1] Workers'
Forum met recently with Éric Drolet, the
president of United Steelworkers Local 9700
about the situation facing workers as the the
smelter is restarting.
Workers' Forum: Are all ABI
workers back at work now and how do you
characterize the situation they are facing?
Éric Drolet: Since mid-January,
100 per cent of our workers who were still on
the recall lists have returned to work. Since
January 11, 2018 we have had close to 200
retirements or resignations. These losses are
beyond the job cuts made. So right now, to try
to get through the summer ABI is hiring
massively to make up for this shortage of
workers. The first cohort of approximately 20 to
30 new workers came in on January 13, another
group on February 3, and a third starting on
February 17.
The employer has repeatedly confirmed to us
that to meet the normal workforce requirement to
operate the plant, the total number of workers
must be approximately 975. However, where
previously we had nearly 876 regular positions
and the rest of the workers were casuals,
currently we are at 796 regular positions, and
the rest, nearly 200, will be casual.
In an aluminum smelter you need a minimum
threshold to operate the plant. Our threshold at
the aluminum smelter, given the size of the
factory, is around 950 or more.
Regarding the restart of the tanks, we have
three series of 240 tanks, for a total of 720.
We restarted the first two series and we have
reached about 50 restarted in the third series.
At the end of the line, when we have restarted
all the tanks that can be restarted, as some may
be too damaged or at the end of their life,
approximately 150 to 200 tanks must be replaced
with new tanks.
ABI workers vote to ratify the collective
agreement at general membership meeting in
Bécancour, July 2, 2019 and return to work with
their heads high. (Metallos)
WF: How does the reduction of the
number of regular workers affect production?
ED: It affects it indirectly.
This elimination of jobs, together with the
retirements, has led to a restructuring of
positions. It has caused almost 400 direct job
transfers of people who have changed positions,
or whose positions have been modified. In other
words, the job description was changed, either
by a new work organization or because of
retirement, which created a domino effect. When
a person retires, someone, probably from outside
the department, comes to replace this person
through a job posting, and this person also has
to be replaced, and so on. At the end of the
line, there are around 400 people who have
changed positions and tasks.
These people have to be trained in their new
tasks, and many job descriptions have been
changed. In addition to that, we are going to
have to train almost 200 new workers. It is a
huge task. As the smelter is restarting, we find
ourselves with deep holes in our structure
everywhere. Where there were skilled people who
were there for a long time and have now retired,
they are now being replaced by people who have
certain skills, but you cannot replace a worker
with 33 years of service with a worker with five
years of service and have the certainty that you
will receive the same performance. In addition,
we have about 100 workers who will be eligible
for retirement in the next year. This will bring
additional pressure.
There is a lot of pressure when it comes to
training. For example, among the people who are
going to be displaced, there may be some who are
going to be moved from a task that requires 48
hours of training to a task that requires four,
five or six months before being trained on all
aspects of the job. In the case of the foundry,
for example, with the casting of the metal, to
get through all the stages of training we can
say that a worker needs an entire year to master
all the tasks.
For us this is a huge challenge, and as I speak
to you, although we have presented the
challenges we are facing to the employer many
times, I must say that so far the employer has
listened to us very little or not at all. The
employer is very slow to respond.
We have to stay focused on health and safety in
the restart. We have problems with the employer
on this. Not that the employer is not concerned
with health and safety but it has cut training
hours. We have issues about where hours were cut
to avoid having people who are not sufficiently
trained, which can cause health and safety
problems. On average, training hours have been
cut by around 30 to 50 per cent, depending on
the sector.
For us, health and safety has always been a
priority -- we have no choice in an industry
like ours. We have always said that we want to
ensure healthy retirees and that when we pass
through the gate after our shift we do it with
all our limbs intact.
As for the new work organization, it is much
more focused on the employer's management rights
than before. This issue has always been
important to United Steelworkers Local 9700. The
work organization must be negotiated and be an
integral part of our collective agreement. Now,
this is no longer negotiated -- this is no
longer part of the collective agreement but
considered part of management rights. The
employer's responsibility to our rights is now
limited to notifying us 60 days in advance of
the changes it wishes to make. We have a minimal
right of representation, which is to send our
comments and the modifications we would like to
make but the employer is not required to take
them into account. This is a huge change that
concerns us a lot.
New work organization can include just about
anything -- work schedules, task descriptions,
and these are all left to the discretion of the
employer. We do not yet know the impact
that all this in going to have because in a
restart situation the new work organizations
that have been decided have not yet been
implemented.
Regarding casuals, we also are in a learning
situation. Previously, casual workers worked all
the hours for which they were hired. They had
their schedules set in advance and followed
them. They had their vacation calendar and were
part of a team. For older people who are going
to be casuals, that same procedure is probably
going to be followed. The worker should stay on
the same task as it was before. But for others,
with the new system that has been put in place,
we are not sure. Will they end up in one, two or
even three different sectors, treated a bit like
mere job fillers? Will they work all their
hours? It is not clear.
WF: Do you want to add something
in conclusion?
ED: We have several concerns. We
want to be sure that 35 years from now we will
still be talking about ABI as an active plant --
that it is not going to become a wasteland. It
seems to us that the owners are more interested
in observing, setting up and redoing the working
methods than in restarting the plant. The plan
for restarting the plant has to be a
comprehensive one. This means that it is not
only a matter of restarting the tanks, but
establishing trust between the parties, the
employer and union on the basis of mutual
respect, not just respect for the employer. We
are also concerned about the training -- the
sheer quantity of training we have to provide
versus our ability to provide it and the time we
have to do it, and the fact that the training
plan has been modified.
That is about where we are at, at this
time.
Note
1. To read about the
significance of the fight of the ABI workers,
read:
"ABI
Workers Return to Work with Their Heads High,"
Workers’ Forum, July 18, 2019.
(To access articles
individually click on the black headline.)
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