Commission de la construction du Québec
 | |
| Industry | Construction |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Key people | Diane Lemieux, President and Chief Executive Officer |
Number of employees | 1080 (in 2015) |
| Website | www.ccq.org |
The Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ) is responsible for the application of the laws and regulations that govern the construction industry in the province of Québec. Funded by the industry’s employers and employees, the CCQ offers numerous services in the areas of social services, vocational training, workforce management, and application of the construction industry’s collective agreements.
Description
The Commission de la construction du Québec, created in 1987, is responsible for application of the Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training, and Workforce Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20), which governs the industry. It is funded mainly by payroll deductions made from employees and employers in the construction industry.
The CCQ’s purpose is to offer numerous services to the clientele it serves, notably in terms of social benefits, pension, and insurance plans; vocational training; and management of the industry’s workforce. It is also responsible for application of the construction industry’s collective agreements.
In Québec, the construction industry is an important sector, generating more than $40 billion dollars of investment each year. The hundreds of thousands of people involved in the industry, and the companies that employ them, must be constantly on the move throughout the province.[1]
Mission
The Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ) is the organization to which the Government of Québec has entrusted responsibility for implementation of the Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training and Workforce Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20) and the associated regulations.
As the organization serving workers and employers in the construction industry and responsible for administering the programs intended for them, the CCQ must:
- Administer the social benefits plans negotiated as part of the sectorial collective agreements and ensure their development
- Administer the funds entrusted to it in such a way as to foster the perpetuation of the programs that they support
- Satisfy the needs of the workforce and maintain workers’ skills at a high level
- Offer a referral service for workers
As the organization ensuring compliance in the construction industry, the CCQ must:
- Ensure compliance with the sectorial collective agreements for workers in the construction industry falling under Act R-20 and its regulations
- Fight against undeclared work, with a view to fostering fair competition among the industry’s contractors
- Contribute to prevention of and the fight against corruption and to application of the tax laws in the construction industry
The CCQ must thus carry out a mission with two separate components, reflecting the evolution of the Quebec legislative framework regarding the construction industry.[2]
Competency certificate
The competency certificate is the main instrument giving the right to work on the basis of training or experience acquired for a given occupation or trade. In fact, the CCQ verifies employees’ skills before allowing them the right to work.
There are three categories of competency certificate:
- The journeyman competency certificate, for those who have demonstrated their qualifications in one of the construction trades
- The apprentice competency certificate, for those in apprenticeship for a given trade (depending on the trade, the certificate requires that apprentices complete from one to five periods of 2,000 hours each)
- The occupation competency certificate, for a person working on construction sites as a labourer or general helper.[3]
Workforce management
The CCQ has the mandate of ensuring a balance between demand for labour and availability of qualified workers. The CCQ manages the workforce through labour pools containing holders of competency certificates in the industry’s trades and occupations. This system ensures a sufficient supply of available workers and refers these workers to the employers who need them. Other aspects of workforce management include verification and application of the regulations concerning hiring and mobility of workers, the making of interprovincial agreements and terms aiming to encourage worker mobility outside of Quebec, and the implementation of measures to make sure that workers have the skills they need.[4]
The construction trades
| Occupations | |
|---|---|
| Blaster-driller | Pipe welder (high pressure) |
| Diver | Surveyor |
| Lineman | Welder |
The construction industry’s social benefits programs
The CCQ administers the complementary social benefits plans, which are notable for their diversity and variety in light of the needs of the clientele. In addition to receiving vacation cheques twice a year, the workforce benefits from private pension and insurance plans funded entirely by employers and by people practising an occupation or a trade. People covered by these plans maintain their coverage even if they change employer or work region.[5]
Vacations
Twice a year, the CCQ sends workers a vacation allowance: at the end of June for the amounts credited between July and December of the previous year, and at the end of November for the amounts credited from January to June of the same year.
Every month, the employer remits to the CCQ the indemnities for paid statutory holidays and obligatory annual vacations set out in the collective agreements. These amounts represent 13% of the salary earned by workers during each week of work:
- 6% in annual vacations
- 5.5% in paid statutory holidays
- 1.5% in sick leave[6]
The construction holiday
The “construction holiday” was made official in 1970 by a government decree and took effect for the first time in Québec in the summer of 1971. This vacation period is one of the working conditions to which employers and workers have agreed.
It is estimated that during this part of the summer, about one quarter of Québec's labour force is on vacation. Thus, for more than 35 years, the last two full civil weeks (Sunday to Saturday) of July have marked the construction holiday. This tradition was slightly modified in 2008.
- Winter 2016–17: December 25, 2016, to January 7, 2017
- Summer 2017: July 23 to August 5, 2017[7]
Ensuring compliance in the construction industry: The CCQ’s powers
One of the functions of the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ) is to oversee application of the collective agreements negotiated between the employer and union parties. To ensure coherent and uniform working conditions throughout Québec, the CCQ has been granted certain powers, which it exercises daily, under the Act on Labour Relations, Vocational Training, and Manpower Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20).
The CCQ may suspend work on a construction site and claim the sums due that are established via expertise based on the scope of the work or by any other means or evidence.
Since 1987, criminal lawsuits have been brought by the Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, and fines have been paid into the province’s consolidated fund.[8]
History
In its current form, the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ) was founded in 1987. Its origins, however, go back to 1934: for more than 30 years (1934–68), the employers and unions in the construction industry had their agreements recognized mainly through the Act Respecting Collective Agreement Decrees. Parity committees, the ancestors of the CCQ, administered the Construction Decree on a regional basis.
In 1968, the government of Québec adopted a statute specifically for the construction industry, the Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training, and Workforce Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20), which provided for the creation of a province-wide organization to apply the law. From 1971 to 1975, this organization was the Commission de l'industrie de la construction (CIC), which was succeeded by the Office de la construction du Québec (OCQ) from 1975 to 1986 and then, starting in 1987, by the CCQ.[9]
Statistics
The construction industry makes a significant contribution to Québec’s economy. In 2014, it accounted for investments of $45.4 billion, the equivalent of 12% of the province’s GDP. With an average of 234,700 direct jobs generated per month, it represents 1 job in 20 province-wide.
Activities falling under Act R-20 represent 60% of all construction activities.
Main construction industry indicators:[10]
| 2015 | 2014 | Variation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of workers | 153,040 | 158,085 | –3.2% |
| Number of hours worked | 140.4 million | 149.6 million | –6.2% |
| Annual average hours worked per employee | 917 | 946 | –3.1% |
| Total payroll | $5.5 billion | $5.8 billion | –5.0% |
| Number of employers | 25,704 | 25,855 | –0.6% |
| Average hours per employer | 5,461 | 5,787 | –5.6% |
Serving employers and the workforce [11]
| 2015 |
|---|
| 23,050 competency certificates issued |
| 330,962 worker turnovers (hiring or termination) |
| 31 study programs approved by the CCQ and offered by the school system |
| 25,154 participants in skill-upgrading programs |
| 11,017 admissions to qualification exams to graduate from apprentice to journeyman |
| 143,598 insured people |
| 353,021 participants in the pension plan |
References
- ^ "Who we are". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ "Mission". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ Commission de la construction du Québec (May 2016), Rapport annuel de gestion 2015 (PDF) (in French)
- ^ "Labour management". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ "Social benefits". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ "Vacation cheques". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ "Construction holidays and vacations". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ "CCQ's powers". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ "History". Commission de la construction du Québec. 22 December 2016.
- ^ Commission de la construction du Québec (May 2016), Rapport annuel de gestion 2015 (PDF) (in French)
- ^ Commission de la construction du Québec (May 2016), Rapport annuel de gestion 2015 (PDF) (in French)