The FTQ-Construction and the Syndicat québécois de la construction (SQC) are the winners of the vote that was just held among 211,405 workers in the industry. They both gained members, while the other three union organizations lost them.
And the Quebec Provincial Council of Construction Trades (International), which was in second place of the five recognized unions, has just fallen to third place, but not far behind the SQC.
Thus, the FTQ-Construction, which represented 43% of workers during the previous election, in 2020, now represents 44%.
The Quebec Construction Union, which represented 19% of workers, now represents 21.7%.
The Provincial Council, which represented 23%, now represents 20.7%.
CSD-Construction, still in fourth place, which represented 8.7%, now represents 7.6%.
And the CSN-Construction remains last and has lost few members, going from 6.1% to around 6%.
Why is it important?
The union vote was held from June 3 to 22, after a period of inter-union raiding — steps that only occur once every four years.
Only those who wanted to change their union allegiance were required to vote. Those who did not exercise their right to vote were presumed to want to keep the same union allegiance — this is called the presumption of allegiance.
The Quebec Construction Commission reported Tuesday that it had received 30,529 ballots.
“The union vote is an important democratic exercise. It allows workers to choose the union association that will represent them for the coming years as well as to determine union representativeness, that is, the relative weight of each association when the time comes to ratify the next collective agreements,” recalls the President and CEO of the CCQ, Audrey Murray.
The rules also stipulate that “to be applicable in a sector, a collective agreement must be ratified by the employer and at least three union associations that represent more than 50% of workers in the industry,” adds the CCQ.
The current 2021-2025 collective agreements will expire on April 30.
Four collective agreements, for each sub-sector of the industry, will have to be renegotiated by these five trade union organisations and the four employers’ associations.
The new representativeness of the five trade union organizations will officially come into force on 1er September. It is considered preliminary for now, since there is a period of protest that is allowed.