The Legault government wants to allow more mobility of construction workers between regions: Minister Jean Boulet intends to prohibit collective agreement clauses limiting the mobility of an employee.
“The bill prohibits union and employer parties, from 1er May 2025, to agree, in collective agreements, on clauses limiting the mobility of an employee who can be assigned anywhere in Quebec under a regulation or which would have the effect of restricting the freedom of an employer to hire such employee,” said Labor Minister Jean Boulet, who tabled his bill on Thursday to modernize the construction industry.
Minister Boulet’s goal is to make the industry more efficient and productive. He has already publicly detailed a first measure: allowing the decompartmentalization of certain professions. It is also in the bill.
In the case of worker mobility, however, he did not indicate how he would achieve this.
The unions were already on their guard. At the end of January, they were already on a war footing. “I have a terrible fear. They will kill the regions. The vast majority of the work is between Montreal and Quebec. What will happen if the companies go to the region with their workforce? That’s scary. I hope that people will mobilize,” lamented Carl Dufour, president of the Centrale des syndicatsdemocratiques (CSD) Construction, in an interview with The Press.
The complete abolition of the rules on mobility was part of the employers’ demands. The Quebec Construction Association (ACQ) is calling for the pure and simple abolition of construction regions, however it says it is satisfied with the withdrawal of clauses in collective agreements.
The organization’s public affairs manager, Guillaume Houle, gave the example of a Quebec entrepreneur who would win a contract in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. Current rules prevent it from having a team made up of 100% workers residing in the National Capital. “He will be forced to hire employees he does not know and train them on the job, whereas a cohesive work team is more effective,” he lamented.
Retroactivity
In return, Minister Boulet includes in his bill the right to negotiate a retroactive collective agreement, which was prohibited in the construction sector. It was a union request. “Mainly made up of contributions from employers, this fund aims to allow the Commission de la construction du Québec to pay a retroactive salary adjustment, when terms provided for in collective agreements provide for such an adjustment,” we read in the law.
The bill also proposes “various regulatory modifications aimed at promoting access to the construction industry for people representative of the diversity of Quebec society, such as indigenous people, people who are part of a visible or ethnic minority, immigrants as well as people with disabilities”.
To attract workers from abroad, Minister Boulet also wants to give power to the Quebec Construction Commission “to determine standards as well as a procedure for recognizing training and diplomas issued outside Quebec.”