Between June 1 and June 20, 2020, 192,360 workers in the Québec construction industry are being asked to choose their union allegiance, which will be in effect for the next four years. The choice registered in workers’ files will come into effect on September 1, 2020. 

This election will take place by mail and under the supervision of the Commission de la construction du Québec (CCQ). The CCQ is responsible for ensuring that this vote takes place in compliance with the Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training and Workforce Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20) and the Regulation Respecting the Election of a Representative Association by the Employees of the Construction Industry.

The union election: repeated every four years 

To execute work covered under Act R-20, workers must join one of the five union associations recognized under this statute when they enter the industry.

Every four years, workers have the option to change their union allegiance during an election that takes place 11 months before the collective agreements in force in the industry expire. 

The election also makes it possible to determine union representativeness for negotiation of the industry’s subsequent collective agreements. The votes that are accrued to establish this representativeness must come from people who hold a competency certificate and have worked 300 hours or more during the period defined by the Act – that is, for about a year preceding the election. For the 2020 election, 127,965 voters fulfil these criteria. 

Workers who do not exercise their right to vote will have their union allegiance at the time of the vote automatically renewed for the following four years. This is called the “presumption of allegiance.”

The steps following the voting period

Once the CCQ has completed counting the votes received, notices confirming the choice of allegiance will be sent out to all workers, whether or not they have exercised their right to vote. It is possible to contest the union allegiance given on the notice during the 30 days following the end of the election. 

The official results of the 2020 union election will be made known in August.

Marcel Blanchet is the chief returning officer
The CCQ’s board of directors has appointed Marcel Blanchet to be chief returning officer for the 2020 union election. Blanchet is acting in this capacity for the third time, having been the chief returning officer for the union election in 2012 and 2016. 

A lawyer by training, Blanchet was the chief electoral officer of Québec from 2000 to 2010. In this position, he administered three general elections and more than 30 by-elections. 

Blanchet’s experience, integrity, and general probity make him, once again, the best candidate to independently administer the 2020 union election.

Visit ccq.org for more details on the union election, including a video summarizing the steps to follow to vote.