(Montreal) Tired of seeing road flaggers being injured or killed at work, the Steelworkers union is calling for a major clean-up of the industry to increase safety, training and information. He also wants to launch a denunciation line.
The road sign industry is now governed by a joint employer-worker committee, since a decree was adopted to this effect by the Quebec government.
In an interview on Monday, Nathalie Perron, president of the relevant local section of the Steelworkers union, reported several problems in the industry: small businesses launched without much training, exclusively online training for workers, skills that are not sufficiently verified, a lack of public information, a lack of site inspections, etc.
“There are “doers”; there are all kinds of companies that will start a company on the corner of the street, from their garage,” denounces Mme Perron.
The Steelworkers union, which is affiliated with the FTQ, is asking that an entity better supervise the industry to ensure the certification of road signage agencies, to verify the conformity of equipment, to inspect signage work so that they are compliant and to put in place comprehensive training which would lead to obtaining competency cards.
The union believes that the joint committee, newly created with the decree, would be empowered to play this role of “regulation” of the industry, since it already brings together representatives of companies and workers. Normally, a joint committee manages working conditions in a given industry.
The union reports that the CNESST recorded 215 work-related injuries among road traffic flaggers in 2022 alone. And that’s without counting 19 deaths since 2008, he adds.
The Steelworkers even plan to launch a “whistleblower line” in May, to allow those who notice non-compliance or a problem to report it.
“We hope that the government will hear our demands to regularize the situation on construction sites and the safety of our workers. It can’t continue like this. Everything really needs to be tightened up in terms of safety, skills cards, (and that there be) more presence on road sites too,” argued Mr.me Perron.