Ontario Government Responds To Construction Industry Concerns

Under the Ontario Labour Relations Act, workers have a right to seek decertification or representation by a different union during the last three months of operation of a collective agreement (the open period). In the construction industry here in Ontario, most ICI related collective agreements, and all residential collective agreements in the GTA have a three year term that expires on April 30th of 2016, and every three years thereafter. In the last few years an ongoing battle between rival unions has resulted in multiple 'raids' where one union seeks to displace another as the bargaining agent of a particular trade. Construction companies have found these activities to be disruptive with representatives of one union appearing on jobs and attempting to convince members of one union to sign cards for another, thus triggering a raid application.