TORONTO
Thousands of construction workers on strike, shutting down high rise sites
Posted May 2, 2022
Thousands of construction workers are off the job and it could have a ripple effect on projects underway across the GTA.
Around 15,000 house framers, high rise forming workers, tile installers, carpet and hardwood installers, who are members of LiUNA! Local 183, are all on strike.
A union spokesman says all high-rise sites across the region are shut down.
Union spokesman Jason Ottey tells CityNews 680 the main issue in the dispute is wages and the rising cost of living.
“Inflation is at its all time high. We have a well documented accepted, and accepted, shortage of housing and a critical shortage of people with the necessary skills to build them,” he said, “quite frankly their offer was well short of what would have been acceptable to our members.”
Ottey says union members stepped up to help builders and developers at the start of the pandemic but are not getting anything in return.
He says the impact of the strike is already being felt, “pretty much all the way from Lakeridge Road to the edge of Burlington, and all the way up to Simcoe County, that is our jurisdictional area, so all of the high rise sites for the contractors that are bound to the work that we do, those sites will be shut down.”
The president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario is hoping agreements can be reached with the union without significant delays to the projects.
Meanwhile Ottey says workers don’t want to be off the job.
The strikes in six trades, called the biggest in 20 years, could affect the construction of highrise and low-rise homes in the GTA.
By Rosa Saba
Mon., May 2, 2022
More than 15,000 residential construction workers are on strike over compensation and workers’ rights. It’s being called the biggest strike in the sector in 20 years, which could delay the construction of highrise and low-rise homes in the GTA.
On Sunday, workers in the Greater Toronto Area and other parts of Ontario covered by the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 183 went on strike. According to a press release from the local, workers in highrise forming, self-levelling flooring, house framing, tile installation, rail installation, and carpet and hardwood installation rejected their proposed settlements after asking for compensation increases to help offset the rising cost of living.
“LiUNA Local 183 members were deemed essential throughout the pandemic and continue to serve in one of the GTA’s fastest growing construction sectors,” said LiUNA 183 business manager Jack Oliveira in the press release. “Our members are at the frontlines of the region’s growth and deserve fair pay and benefits for their work and service to the community.”
This comes as Ontarians are grappling with continued high prices and tight supply in the residential real estate market, with the federal government promising billions to try to ease Canada’s housing crisis.
It’s the most significant strike the sector has seen in around two decades, said Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON), which represents residential builders.
In the construction industry, unlike other industries, workers in specific skilled trades like framing or hardwood installation are covered by separate collective agreements with their respective contractors’ associations.
There are around 30 such agreements in the residential construction sector alone, said Lyall.
These agreements expire every three years at the same time, and it’s not uncommon for a few bargaining units to go on strike, he said.
He said rising inflation has led to increased pressure to raise wages in the construction industry. Between that and the other issues facing the industry, such as supply chain problems and the ongoing pandemic, Lyall said this has been a particularly difficult round of bargaining, but some units have already settled.
“The need for housing is there, and we’ve got some pretty big challenges ahead of us and quite a bit of uncertainty in the market, and we've had some real challenges during COVID.”
The strikes don’t mean every single residential site in the GTA has ground to a halt, according to RESCON. Any site at the forming or framing stage will be heavily affected because those workers are on strike, but construction sites in the later stages such as finishing will be significantly less impacted.
“If you think about what comes after framing, right, you’ve got electrical, plumbing, drywall, all these other things that stop because they can’t continue working if there's no frame,” said Lyall.
The union is calling on the contractors’ associations to return to bargaining with proposals that address the costs of inflation as well as the predicted demands on the sector in coming years.
“Employers in other construction sectors, and in other parts of the residential sector, offered employment terms and conditions which better reflected the current cost of living, and anticipated increases in inflationary pressures over the life of the collective agreement,” the press release states.
Lyall is hopeful that the striking units will have resolutions in the next few weeks.
The longer they strike, the more housing projects will be held up, he said. Because each step of the building process is performed by a different skilled worker, other workers who aren’t striking may be held up while waiting for the strikes to be resolved — for example, since the house framers are on strike, there are many tasks that can’t be completed until the framing of a house is complete.
“It’s really serious stuff,” said Lyall.
According to RESCON, another union local representing operating engineers has also rejected a new collective agreement, which could affect excavation and other activities in the residential sector.
Rosa Saba is a Toronto-based business reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rosajsaba
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