What is considered “construction” under the Ontario Labour Relations Act?

January 21, 2020

Welcome back. Between round table meetings Company websites, you may have heard something like this from management”

“The rates posted are province-wide construction —and much of our work is non-construction….”

We continue to get inquiries from non-union employees concerned that they wouldn’t be covered by our Principal Agreement because some of the work they do isn’t construction. Hopefully, this will clarify things.

For many, the bulk of work performed by electrical companies is considered “construction” and would be covered by our Provincial Agreement and Wage Schedules. In this context we refer to the legal definition set out by the Ontario Labour Relations Act. This definition covers a wide scope of work that you might not automatically think of as “construction”.

Instead of dry legal definitions, here are some clear examples of work that you do everyday that is considered “construction” under the Ontario Labour Relations Act.

• You’re on a service call to fix an electrical problem… the conveyor system isn’t working. You troubleshoot the problem; testing for voltage, continuity and other measures needed to diagnose the problem. Then you repair or replace the faulty component—CONSTRUCTION
• You’re adding to a facilities existing electrical equipment—CONSTRUCTION
• You’re performing demolition of an electrical installation—CONSTRUCTION
• You’re installing additional electric equipment or devices, or adding to an existing conveyor line or process line—CONSTRUCTION