Reference to the CFA’s Advocacy Update from May 12, 2022

Ontario’s construction industry is facing several strikes with tens of thousands of various trade workers off the job just as building season ramps up in the province.

A carpenters’ union was the latest to walk the picket lines on Monday. They join thousands of crane operators and more than 15,000 skilled labourers who went on strike earlier in the month.

On Monday, the Carpenter’s District Council of Ontario, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) sector announced a strike, affecting more than 15,000 members.

Last week, Local 793, a union representing operating engineers, went on strike. That includes crane and equipment rental, steel erection and mechanical installations, foundation, piling and caisson boring, excavation/earth moving, general contractor construction and surveying.

Further, LiUNA’s high-rise forming, self-levelling flooring, house framers, tile installers, railing installers, and carpet and hardwood installers announced a strike on May 1.

The job action has consequences for roughly 15,000 skilled labourers in the residential sector, LiUNA said.

Why are they on strike?

When it announced its intention to strike, the carpenters’ union said it wants to see a “fair deal” for members whose “work was seen as essential during the pandemic and because of this, and because of spiralling cost of living increases, our union and our members believe that wages now have to be increased.”

Both Local 793 and LiUNA’s unions cited rising costs and wage increases as a reason to go on strike.