We are your Building Trades. Day in, day out, starting early every morning, we go to work across Greater Toronto as qualified building professionals and skilled tradespeople. Our job is to fuel Ontario 's “economic engine” by building the offices, industrial plants, hospitals, homes, apartments and massive infrastructures that make this great urban centre work. From the subways and pipes underground to the tallest skyscrapers, you see examples of the professional construction trades in action everywhere. We lead as North America 's most construction productive workforce. Projects on time, on budget, value for money. Top skills, safety and community involvement. We intend to keep it that way.

Productivity

Our diverse workforce is made up of men and women from all over the world who know what it means to do a job well. Together we ensure the job is on time and precise, using an ample skilled labour pool adhering to exacting safety standards. That's why we have the best productivity record in North America . If it's not a quality job, we didn't do it. As the builders of great cities, we are accredited professionals who are dedicated to boosting our region's competitiveness. Our reputation for reliability, safety and good value is envied the world over. How do we know? We hear it from our contractors when they return from working elsewhere. Purchasers of construction need to know that “the sourness of poor quality lasts far longer than the sweetness of low price” and like anything else, you really get what you pay for.

Apprenticeship Training

Part of the history of building trades has been the passing down of skills through the generations. For centuries, the tradition of apprenticeship has guaranteed both the labour supply and the skill sets needed for the ongoing evolution of the building trades. Today thousands of young men and women are learning their trade through our union apprenticeship programs.

Together with our management partners, we've invested millions of dollars in state-of-the-art training centres throughout the GTA. Every year, we spend millions more on extensive training for our apprentices. Our investment of financial and human resources into apprenticeship ensures a highly trained team of building and trades professionals on stream to meet the demand.

As we expand into new technology applications and training, we continue the legacy of the apprenticeship tradition, reaching out into schools and the community to involve youth in the trades.

First Class Skills

A career in the building trades opens up vast opportunities, not just for our youth, but also for seasoned workers always looking to upgrades their portfolio of skills. Our training centres are constantly responding to new trends and ideas and our members continue to add new skills to their tool kits.

We incorporate expertise in high technology, energy efficiency and green design. As innovations arise, we develop new insights and begin to apply them as veteran tradespeople.

As early advocates of energy and water retrofit programs for the City of Toronto , we developed appropriate courses to help realize the full potential of this important work in both public and private sector buildings.

From information technology to fibre optics, digital controls to medical gas installations our members have the edge of the most modern training environment for job readiness and competitiveness.

Quality of Life

When the union's at work, you know that working families are benefiting from the health and welfare plans negotiated throughout our industry. Dental services, eyeglasses, medications and life insurance are all covered in the union plans. Many include disability benefits or unemployment assistance. While we can't control the cost of living, we can at least make sure the basics are covered and help maintain a good quality of life for our families.

We believe that hard working men and women deserve to retire with some measure of security and dignity. Pension plans are part of our negotiated collective agreements. They provide a decent income to the retirees who have spent their lifetimes building our cities.

And we're also there for our workforce when personal problems with drug and alcohol surface, as they do in every sector. The DeNovo Treatment Centre was founded in 1990 through the caring of a number of contractors and unions who forged a positive solution to help those in need.

Safety on the Job

On March 17, 1960, in Toronto , an event occurred that gripped an entire population. Five young Italian-Canadian workers were buried alive while digging a tunnel at Hogg's Hollow in North York . The anger over their senseless deaths led to a mass call for better labour and safety laws. (Please visit Hogg's Hollow Link) After years of organizing, years of struggle, those improvements were achieved. Today the GTA's unionized construction industry is the safest in the country. Compare that to predominantly non-union Alberta , where lost time to accidents is three times higher than ours.*

In our industry, extensive training and enforcement of regulations by safety reps and stewards are essential. Safety studies show a significantly higher rate of injury on non-union job sites. As professionals, we understand the vital connection between protecting safety and the project's overall bottom line. Our sound safety practices are a built-in cost advantage.

Our goal is to ensure that every worker returns home to the family in good health at the end of every day. Now, with the evidence of occupational diseases resulting from materials used long ago, our unions provide legal and personal support for members and their families in these difficult situations.

*Construction Safety Association of Ontario Annual Report 1998

Partnerships

We pride ourselves on being strong partners in building great cities. Our most important relationship is with the companies we work for, both in the public and private sector. Employer and labour representatives jointly govern most of our training centres.

As well as building communities, we endeavour to enrich our communities by participating in so many areas. (please see our sponsorship page)

A very special project of the Building Trades is Community Builders, where tradespeople from all trades come together to volunteer their skills to improve the lives of others and to improve our neighbourhoods. Please visit our Community Builders section. While at this site, if you would like to volunteer please call our office or drop us an email.

Positive Solutions

Trade unions do more than just bargain collective agreements. We also play a role in advocating for the kind of society that working families want. Whether it be good investment for economic development or strong measures for public health and the environment, our unions are at the forefront.

We have worked with community groups and elected representatives to help craft policies on transit, housing, education, immigration and environmental initiatives like energy efficiency 'green design' and waste management.

We've helped win investment from senior levels of government in facilities such as the National Trade Centre and the ITER project. And we were key supporters of the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Our Council enjoys the opportunity to work with so many dynamic individuals and organizations within the construction industry and labour movement.

We intend to build the city, as well as to help shape policy for at least another 100 years.