Quebec passes bill to end construction strike; workers back on the job Tuesday

QUEBEC – The Quebec government has passed a law that will force striking construction workers back on the job.

The back-to-work bill was approved by the provincial legislature after midnight on Monday after a lengthy day of debates.

The law means some 77,000 workers in Quebec’s industrial, institutional and commercial construction sectors will be back at work on Tuesday morning.

Workers in other sectors, including residential construction and road work, were able to reach deals last week.

The bill took 15 hours to get approved.

The original plan for a four-year agreement was shortened to a single year after pressure from the opposition.

The bill introduced Sunday morning would have meant an agreement along the lines of the one reached in the civil engineering and road construction sector.

Wages would have increased by two per cent in the first year, 2.1 per cent the year after, 2.2 per cent in the third year and 2.3 per cent in the final year.

But after heated debate inside the legislature, the agreement between the unions and construction companies was shortened to a single year with a wage increase of two per cent.

The opposition Liberals and Coalition party argued the shorter term would give both sides another chance to reach an agreement on their own.

The provincewide construction strike began June 17.