A new partnership between two of Canada’s largest construction unions promises to help the unions’ 27,000 combined members find better job opportunities.
Construction Maintenance and Allied Workers (CMAW), which represents workers in the four western provinces, and Centrale des Syndicats Democratiques (CSD) which operates out of Quebec, signed a Mutual Agreement for Cooperation earlier this week.
One of the main drivers behind the agreement is the need for more skilled construction tradespeople to carry out work on the Alberta oil sands and other existing projects in western Canada. With job prospects booming in the west, keeping up with the demand for workers has created challenges.
“There are many more construction jobs opening up in the west, and we simply don’t have enough trained and skilled tradespeople to fill those jobs,” CMAW president Jan Noster said. “We invited representatives from CSD Construction to attend our convention in Kelowna, BC on May 8 and 9 of this year, and we learned that they are a highly-democratic and independent union much like ourselves. We could see we would be a good fit, so we made an agreement.”
Noster pointed out that while portions of the Quebec construction industry has been embroiled in scandal recently with alleged links to organized crime, corruption and bribery, CSD has not been linked to the allegations.
According to CSD construction president Patrick Daigneault, the new agreement will serve his union’s members well, particularly during slow construction time in Quebec. By partnering with a large union in Canada’s booming west, it would open up a wealth of opportunities for Quebec’s trade workers who may be looking for work.
“This agreement will be good for members of our union during slack times in construction in Québec,” he said. “CMAW has experience working with construction workers from Quebec, and we believe this new relationship will be good for both unions and will provide employers with the skilled trades they desperately need.”
The agreement will also benefit both unions’ workers in that they will not have to pay additional union dues for working out-of-province, and all pension and benefit contributions they make while working out-of-province will be transferred back to their pension and benefit plans in their home province.
Recent moves have been made to make it easier for companies to hire temporary foreign workers for specific jobs when there is a labour shortfall, as has been the case in western Canada. By partnering, the two unions are ensuring construction jobs in Canada go to Canadian workers.
CMAW and CSD will also work together to grow the contractor base through the inter-provincial agreement and collaborate on training opportunities, among other perks.
