HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
TRADES IN ONTARIO
Formed in 1957, the Provincial Building and
ConstructionTrades Council of Ontario was
formed to have a balanced Building Trades
voice to the provincial government and to
business, as well as to bring Ontario’s per-
spective to the national table.
Prior to the Council’s creation, there were
14 Local Building Trades Councils through-
out Ontario, many of which exist today. All
local and provincial councils are chartered
out of Washington, D.C. under the um-
brella of North America’s Building Trades
Unions (American Federation of Labour—
Congress of Industrial Organizations).
The Council represents 13 craft unions in
virtually every discipline of the construction
sector, totalling 150,000 workers through-
out Ontario. These members are the men
and women who not only build the infra-
structure of Ontario’s cities, but make up
a part of the community’s economic back-
bone.
The Council espouses a single goal, which
is “to work together with employers and
governments to fight for good jobs that
working Canadians can depend on to se
Health and Safety, Infrastructure
Investments, Apprenticeship and
Training, Fair Wages, Diversity in
the Industry. On issues that affect
their livelihoods, the Building and
Construction Trades Council of
Ontario is the collective voice for
the 150,000 construction workers
in the province.
AUGUST 2017
H
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