TORONTO – The Carpenters District Council of Ontario announces that a Tentative Agreement in the ICI sector (Industrial Commercial Institutional) has been reached with the various Employer Bargaining Agencies in the province of Ontario. 

Since May 9^th the Carpenters Union has been on strike in the ICI sector after the members overwhelmingly voted down a prior tentative agreement. Since that date 15,000 Carpenters have been on picket lines in numerous Ontario communities (in the pics, the Woodbine picket line, last Friday). “Our members – Mike Yorke, president of the CDCO, explains – have continued to work however, in other sectors not impacted by this ICI strike such as Residential, EPSCA and Maintenance, some of which have already ratified collective agreements for their respective sectors”. 

Ratification votes for the ICI Tentative Agreement will take place around the province on Friday May 27^th with a final tally on Friday afternoon which will be followed by another media release with the full results. A condition for this to be ratified province-wide, requires is what is known as a “double majority” which is a majority of locals (of 14), and a majority of members voting must vote acceptance. 

According to Mike Yorke, “We worked diligently with our respective employer groups and have fashioned an agreement that reflects the current economic affordability crisis and one which we believe the members in Ontario will accept and ratify.” “Construction is too important an economic driver in this province for us to be too long on strike and without an agreement.”

Construction is a prime economic driver in Ontario worth almost $60 billion annually is 7.2% of GDP and employs over 600,000 workers around the province with an additional 600,000 + in spin-off jobs.  The CDCO is composed of 16 affiliated local unions (14 in the ICI sector) of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners across the province. In total, it represents approximately 30,000 women and men working in a wide range of skilled trades, including carpentry, drywall, resilient flooring, concrete formwork, underwater construction, welding, scaffolding and a long list of other construction related work.