Unions protest possible postponement while employers demand clarity
Construction workers in Quebec protested outside the province’s workplace health and safety board, CNESST, on Tuesday because they’re worried health and safety provisions set to take effect in the new year will be delayed. One of the main requirements is the designation of a health and safety representative on work sites. But the construction employers’ associations say implementation of the new provisions should be delayed because the law is unclear.
“The bill is not very precise,” says Eric Côté, president and director general of the Corporation des Entrepreneurs Généraux du Quebec. He calls the bill “imperfect” and says it leaves many questions about how to implement the measures unanswered.
Côté says a health and safety professional employed by the company is already required to be on construction sites, and adding a union appointed health and safety representative could lead to complications.
“It could lead to confusion about who is in charge of the job site,” says Côté, who also points out the new law does not contain training requirements or a pay structure.
“The law doesn't say that it's a construction worker. Is it going to be construction worker? Or is it going to be a baker?” muses Côté, “there are many missing details about that person.”
Côté and his membership have been seeking answers from the province since the legislation was first adopted in late 2021. Côté compares it to a speed trap without limits clearly posted, suggesting nobody knows the rules, but companies will still be fined for not meeting the requirements.
These are the reasons why Côté and the construction companies that make up the employers’ associations are requesting a postponement of the provisions. “We're asking for a couple of months till the government figures out how it wants to implement this bill.”
But the unions say any kind of delay is too long. "We've been ready and waiting for these provisions for 40 years," says Simon Lévesque, head of health and safety at the FTQ-Construction, in an interview with the Canadian Press.
Lévesque says mining is an example of an industry that has benefited from union appointed safety representatives.
The dispute comes just days after the president of a concrete company died on a construction site while trying to move a mini-excavator.
"These mechanisms have proven their worth because they require the involvement of workers. The workers know their work environment well, and they know what is dangerous on construction sites, and they are able to identify it."
Levesque says it will be up to CNESST to enforce the new provisions, "I have confidence in the CNESST…I don't believe that the CNESST can give in.”
It doesn’t matter if Côté agrees with the law, but he says clarity is needed, so everyone plays by the rules.
