Wherever you are, you’re never that far from our experienced team of construction, engineering and infrastructure law professionals. Law around the world nortonrosefulbright.com Dan J. Leduc 613.780.1536 dan.leduc@nortonrosefulbright.com www.ecao.org 8 A FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GRAEME AITKEN As we settle into the New Year, I am just as excited about leading the ECAO forward as I was and wrote in my inaugural message a year ago, pursuing the vital work we do on behalf of our Contractor Members, Affiliate Partners, and community at large. As mentioned by our President, Mark Lloyd, ECAO’s Electrical Trade Bargaining Agency (ETBA) has recently completed a successful round of provincial negotiations with our industry partner, IBEW/CCO and we have a new Collective Agreement for 2019-2022. In addition to the Provincial Agreement, all Local Collective Agreements, the Line Agreement and Communications Agreement have been approved. At the conclusion of negotiations our consultants from Agree Inc. provided valuable and positive observations about this year’s process that I feel is worth sharing. Recognizing that we wished to engage the IBEW/CCO in a different, more positive and collaborative manner, it was observed that the “ECAO bargaining team and ETBA executed this strategy, and the results were impressive.” The observation continued, “Detailed, engaged discussions took place both at and away from the bargaining table; meaningful local negotiations happened in many areas of the province … a joint commitment was made to work on important issues during the life of the agreement; and a resolution to wages was reached through negotiation, an outcome that did not risk putting your business costs in the hands of a third party.” I echo Mark’s appreciation for and sincere gratitude to all of our member representatives who contributed to the process; none of this could have been accomplished without the tireless work and true dedication to the greater membership of the negotiations teams and all who provided support to the teams. One of the significant items raised in this round of negotiations was the journeyman to apprentice ratios. While significant ratio changes were announced in Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018, along with changes to remove the Ontario College of Trades, ETBA and IBEW/CCO made changes to go beyond a 1:1 ratio in a number of local appendices. While a 1:1 ratio may be appropriate for certain jobs and for certain types of electrical work, many in our industry recognize that other, higher risk, work requires a more rigorous and higher ratio for safety, quality of work and meaningful mentorship. With the provincial government’s spotlight on skilled trades, it seems only appropriate that this issue of our magazine will address how important it is to support and promote our electrical apprentices for the future of our industry. As many of you know I started my career as an apprentice with Local 105 and also sat on the local Joint Apprenticeship Council. With this experience I believe that I fully understand the challenges that apprentices face when it comes to working safely and getting the best training possible. The IBEW/CCO and ECAO Contractors are proud of the role we play in training, mentoring and educating electrical apprentices. Our ECAO contractors ensure that their best journeypersons provide apprentices with “on the job” skills required to be a good tradesperson. It is estimated that 80 per cent of a journeyperson’s training will be with qualified contractors.