Major partial agreement in principle in Quebec’s construction sector

An agreement in principle has been reached to renew a large number of collective agreements in the construction industry in Quebec.

The agreement in principle provides for wage increases of eight per cent in 2025, five per cent in 2026, five per cent in 2027 and four per cent in 2028.

The Alliance syndicale confirmed the information on Wednesday.

The partial agreement was reached with the Association de la construction du Québec, the employers’ association that negotiates collective agreements in the industrial, institutional and commercial sectors. It represents more than 60 per cent of the construction industry.

This agreement in principle comes as quite a surprise, since few people expected collective agreements to be renewed so quickly, given the unions’ wage appetite and the sometimes laborious negotiations in the construction industry.

This is the most important negotiation of collective agreements in Quebec, after the public sector, since it involves 200,000 workers in the four sub-sectors.

The Alliance demanded an 18 per cent increase in the first year alone of a four-year contract, more than the 17.4 per cent increase obtained by the inter-union common front in the public sector for five years. The Alliance then demanded 3 per cent for each of the years 2026, 2027 and 2028.

The Alliance syndicale represents the five recognised union organisations in the industry, in descending order of importance: the FTQ-Construction, the Syndicat québécois de la construction, the Conseil provincial du Québec des métiers de la construction (International), the CSD-Construction and the CSN-Construction.

For the time being, the agreement in principle covers only collective agreements in the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors. It covers only sectoral clauses, but in the construction industry this includes wage increases.

They still have to negotiate the specific clauses, which concern the construction trades.

It will be up to the members of these union organizations to vote on this agreement in principle when the time comes.

The other two construction sectors, residential and civil engineering and roads, are the subject of separate negotiations between the Alliance syndicale and two other employer associations.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews