Strikes continued in four unionized trades within Ontario’s residential construction sector while nine unionized trades in the ICI sector remained without contracts as the industry continued to deal with uncertainty after multiple collective agreements expired the last day of April.
Among residential workers, framers, drywallers, tile workers and low-rise trim workers continued strikes called the first week of May after contract negotiations stalled.
Among those strikers, representatives of the low-rise trim division of Carpenters and Allied Workers Local 27 — members of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters — and the Trim Association of Ontario (TAO), acting for the employers, spoke of resuming negotiations next week after the TAO had previously said no talks were scheduled for a few weeks.
The nine ICI sector trades that had yet to ratify contracts as of May 6, as chronicled in an ICI sector overview compiled by the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS), were demolition workers, ironworkers, millwrights, operating engineers, painters, precast workers, steeplejacks, teamsters and terrazzo and tile workers.
The Ontario Labour Relations Act regulates labour negotiations in the province. In the construction sector, collective agreements last for three years and all expire on the same day, April 30.
Pat Bono, involved in negotiations on behalf of the low-rise trim workers in Carpenters’ Local 27, is going through his fourth round of contract bargaining and says the tone is different this time around.
"I think both sides are looking at the other markets, what’s going on," he said.
"The framers’ strike, nobody wants to negotiate the worst deal. It’s kind of a holding pattern, usually we have our own deal and our own problems and after a while we have a number in our heads and we get as close as we can to that number and we’re good."
He said he was ready to start bargaining last fall "until the framing situation started and everyone stepped back and said, we’re not going to do this."
Issues he identified as important in these negotiations included his workers obtaining compensation for Workplace Safety and Insurance Board payments they have to make, and the rise in custom homebuilding, as opposed to "cookie-cutter" homes, he said, which is changing the nature of the job.
The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 793 have revealed a possible strike date for its workers in several sectors.
Mike Gallagher, 793’s business manager, reported on May 9, "We have a number of outstanding negotiations," and said the largest covers general contractors as well as excavation, crane rental, steel erection and mechanical, foundation and piling and surveying. The IUOE is negotiating with the Operating Engineers Employer Bargaining Agency.
The local’s director of communications, Grant Cameron, said wages were the main issue and that a strike vote had been set for May 16.
If the operating engineers turn that down, there will be conciliation.
"We have a last chance to avoid a strike on May 26, 27 with conciliator John Miller from Ministry of Labour," Gallagher noted via email. "If no settlement is reached, a strike will commence on 12:01 a.m. on May 30."
In the residential sector, besides the low-rise trim labour impasse, the other strikes involved the residential division of Drywall, Acoustic, Lathing and Insulation Local 675, stalemated against the Interior Systems Contractors Association, and two trades represented by the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).
LIUNA Local 183 members in the marble, tile and terrazzo sector, negotiating with the Residential Tile Contractors Association (RTCA), and in residential framing, bargaining with the Residential Framing Contractors Association, went on strike the first two days after their contracts expired.
Jason Ottey, director of government relations and communications for LIUNA, said there was no update in negotiations or tactics. He had said on May 4 that pickets would likely be rotating at Toronto-area work sites in the coming weeks.
Ross Savatti, RTCA executive director, noted via email, "We (the association ) are meeting internally this week to discuss next steps."
Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON), which represents several employer units involved in bargaining, said last week that settlements included wage increases in the six- to nine-per-cent range over three years.
Unionized sectors to reach settlements followed by ratification in recent days include the highrise residential trim workers, represented by the Carpenters’ Local 27, who got a 7.3-per-cent wage increase, ratified on May 7; the sewer and watermain labourers represented by LIUNA Local 183, who ratified a deal with the Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association (GTSWCA) securing a 7.2-per-cent wage hike averaged across classes over three years on May 4; and sewer and watermain operating engineers, represented by IUOE Local 793, who ratified a three-year-deal with a 7.2-per-cent raise across classes on May 9.
"This clears the way for sewer and watermain to continue our valuable infrastructure work," said Giovanni Cautillo, executive director of the Ontario Sewer and Watermain Construction Association, who was involved in bargaining on behalf of the GTSWCA.
ICI unionized trades that had ratified contracts as of May 6 included carpenters, labourers, mechanical, plasterers and roofers, according to the OCS. Others who had signed memorandums of agreement but had not ratified included boilermakers, bricklayers, cement masons, elevator workers, refrigeration workers, rodworkers, sheet metal workers and sprinkler fitters.
David Gardner of the Insulators Local 95 said ballots from all locals will be counted on May 16.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed