Today, and every day, we honour and remember the sacrifices of those who have served our country!
|
|
SAVE THE DATE! ECAO 2022 Annual General Meeting |
|
Awad Hanna Educational Seminars |
Dr. Awad Hanna is back again, in person, to deliver 3 high-impact educational seminars in November. Due to COVID 19 restrictions, the sessions will be limited to 10 people per session. All attendees will be required to show their valid COVID 19 vaccination status upon arrival at our office.
The three-session registrations are attached for your completion and return to the undersigned. The sessions are as follows:
-
Basic Principles and Practices of Project Construction Estimating- Wednesday, November 17, 2021
-
Managing Field Productivity to Improve the Bottom Line-Thursday November 18, 2021
-
Building the Foreman of Tomorrow- Friday, November 19, 2021
All seminars will begin at 8:30 am and run until 3:30 pm. The registration fee covers a working breakfast and lunch along with a parking pass. If you are interested in registering, contact Cathy Frederickson at cfrederickson@ecao.org.
|
|
Get Used to Different! Reinvent Your Electrical Contracting Business Post Pandemic with Jim Mathis |
ECAO is sponsoring a complimentary webinar on Tuesday, November 23 at 10:00 am via Zoom.
Jim’s theme for the webinar is: Get Used to Different! Attendees interact with each other in an entertaining, thought-provoking dialogue about what to do following the program to make changes in their business models, sales and customer/buyer touchpoints. It is highly interactive and different.
Key Outcomes:
- Alleviate practices and policies that have become your “dinosaurs.”
- Design a plan that builds leadership within your organization for years to come.
- Learn from the current trends that your clients value most in your contracting services.
- Develop a plan to get closer to client needs and bring in more business.
- Discover ways to add value to your clients and your employees as well.
|
|
Challenges to transition from COR 2015 to COR 2020: How do you address them? |
Dear Members,
Our Affiliate Partner, 4S Consulting Services Inc. is hosting a free webinar on Nov 25, 2021, exclusively for ECAO membership.
By attending the webinar, you can learn more about the key challenges to transition to COR 2020 from an IHSA External COR Auditor and experienced OHS consultant supporting over 90 businesses in Ontario, including electrical contractors, in achieving and maintaining COR as well as in transitioning to COR 2020.
Nov 25 | 10:00am to 11:30am EST | Virtual Webinar
Talking Points:
- Provide a detailed overview of the key challenges to transition to each of the 14 elements for COR 2020
- Share best practices and possible methods to address those challenges
Panellist:
Sobi Ragunathan
IHSA External COR Auditor | VP, Operations, Strategy & Partnerships, 4S Consulting Services Inc. | OGCA Safety Committee Member | ISO 450001:2018 Lead Auditor
|
|
“Mind Your Business” with Keynote Speaker David Meade
|
ECAO is thrilled to have successfully booked internationally acclaimed speaker, David Meade for a virtual zoom webinar on Tuesday, November 30 at 10:00 am.
You can’t miss this unique opportunity exclusively for our members and partners, to listen to one of the most engaging, entertaining, and knowledgeable speakers of our time!
David Meade has become one of Europe's most dynamic, engaging, and sought-after keynote speakers with a client list that features some of the world's most successful organizations. David is also a regular moderator at the Annual National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) Conference, and we have him booked for the ECAO Annual Conference in Prague in September 2022.
David will show business owners how cutting-edge innovative techniques can be used in the workplace to improve decision making, communication, motivation, and leadership and will address how collaboration is key to growing your construction business.
David will also be our keynote speaker at our 2022 Prague Conference on September 18-24th.
|
|
Ontario trades, employers prep for contract negotiations |
Labour mobility, inflation and productivity look to be among key issues this time around as Ontario’s ICI and residential sectors get set to bang out new three-year collective agreements in the coming months.
By legislation, all collective agreements in those two construction sectors expire on April 30, 2022. The deadline is over five months away but already stakeholders are focusing on research, pencilling in bargaining positions and watching adversaries warily.
First out of the gate will be IBEW and its employers, Peterson said, following a bargaining framework that has been in place since 1992. He said he expects details of the protocol to be agreed upon soon, and meanwhile regional discussions are beginning. Negotiations will ensue and final offers are expected to be in by mid-February. There is a no-strike, no-lockout clause, and if there is an impasse, an adjudicator will decide between the two offers.
|
|
Uncharted waters: Mandatory vaccinations on project sites |
|
As we enter the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, some industries have been mandated to require vaccinations. More recently, some municipalities and some general contractors have also announced that they will impose policies that will require proof of vaccination on their jobsite. Can owners or general contractors impose a requirement that all persons attending their jobsite be vaccinated against COVID-19?
ECAO Members are encouraged to read this legal comment article on how to manage mandatory vaccinations on construction sites.
|
|
The Canadian Building Trades Union has received a 4-year grant to carry out a study on climate literacy in Canada’s trades training system. It will focus on examining the curriculum for the building trades in both apprenticeship and working trades’ training programs. This is being supplemented by an environmental scan that involves interviewing trades trainers to identify best practices and innovative training programs that advance the issue of low carbon construction methods.
The project team has reached out to ECAO asking for support from selected contractors who are interested in providing their trades’ workforce with the opportunity to learn more about green construction principles and practices. Having a trades’ workforce with these additional competencies may give some contractors a ‘leg up' in obtaining contracts that specify low or zero-carbon building outcomes.
The team plans to reach out to interested employers, including ECAO Contractor Members, early in the New Year to identify who might be interested in joining the project. We will keep you posted on the progress of this initiative and provide links to the project once the next phase begins in the New Year.
|
|
The 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario |
On November 4, Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy released the government’s Fall Economic Statement: 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario. The stated purpose of the document is to lay out the province’s plan for economic recovery and prosperity through critical infrastructure projects, investment attraction and industrial leadership. Highlights for Ontario’s construction industry include the Building Ontario plan, updates to Ontario’s Capital Plan, and investments to support skilled trades.
|
|
Economists sound alarm on 2022 costs, labour supply |
The Nov. 3 event, billed as Where To In 2022? was presented by ConstructConnect as part of its continuing economic webcast series. They cited a recent AGC report finding one-third of 2,100 firms reported in a recent survey that they had to reduce headcount in the previous 12 months, while 40 percent had increased staffing. Going forward, three-quarters of the firms say they’ll be expanding.
Eighty-nine percent of firms that are looking to fill hourly craft positions reported having a hard time doing so while 86 percent of firms seeking to fill salaried positions are also having a hard time hiring.
The reasons? Among them, seventy-two percent of firms say potential candidates are unqualified.
|
|
Link2Build webinar panelists talk adjudication |
|
Panelists on an October 27 Link2Build webinar entitled Adjudication - It's Not as Complicated as You Think! discussed the processes and opportunities around the province’s new adjudication system, and offered their advice to contractors who may one day have to use the process.
Elise Teitler, the project manager with the Ontario Dispute Adjudication for Construction Contracts (ODACC), stated, “The most important benefit of adjudication is that it leads to a very quick resolution of disputes,” “With decisions forthcoming in 35 or 45 days, adjudication is a good alternative to arbitration, and certainly to litigation when you consider the backlog of cases before the courts that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, and which has worsened since.”
The other benefit of the process compared with litigation is that an adjudicator has the latitude to be more exploratory—to ask questions and request additional evidence from parties—in his or her work. That’s not the case with traditional litigation.
|
|
How Trade Contractors Are Managing Volatile Materials Prices |
|
Based on the collective agreement ratified by its employees at the end of September, Ford Motor of Canada says it will transform its Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario from an internal combustion engine site to also become a BEV (battery electric vehicle) manufacturing facility starting in 2024 (as well as introduce a new engine program at its Windsor, Ont., operations)
|
|
EHRC Award- Nominations Extended! |
|
Electricity Human Resources Canada (EHRC) annually hosts the prestigious Awards of Excellence. These awards celebrate the extraordinary achievements of the individuals and organizations at the forefront of industry HR best practice and leadership.
We know our sector is full of great leaders at all levels, so we're extending the deadline for nominations to make sure that no one misses the chance to recognize an outstanding colleague!
This year's award categories are:
- Emerging Leader of the Year
- Innovation in HR Practices at an Educational or Training Institution
- Innovation in HR Practices at an Employer
- Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Champion
- Pandemic Response Award - Individual
- Leader of the Year
Awards will be presented at the Awards of Excellence event on February 17, 2022.
Nominations will be accepted until Wednesday, November 24, 2021.
|
|
How Trade Contractors Are Managing Volatile Materials Prices |
Recent disruptions to the construction supply chain have caused construction materials prices to become volatile and unpredictable. Trade contractors have been forced to adapt their businesses on the fly to remain competitive and profitable. In this webinar, you'll hear from both a distributor and an electrical contractor on how their companies are adapting to overcome new challenges with materials prices. You will learn:
- What caused disruptions to our materials supply chains
- The effect disruptions had on construction materials prices
- The impact on contractors and distributors
- How to manage and overcome price volatility
|
|
Invitation to the 2021 Annual License Holder Meeting |
You are invited to the Annual 2021 Licence Holder Meeting being held virtually on November 18. During the meeting, you will learn about the latest developments in Licensing, information about our Communications campaigns, and enforcement activities to address the Underground Economy. We are pleased to have a key-note speaker, who is a Licensed Electrical Contractor and a Master Electrician and will speak about the importance of electrical safety.
In response to high demand, Technical Q & A is back! Make sure to submit your questions during registration by November 4.
When: November 18, 2021 2:00 – 4:00 PM
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
|
|
CCA Hill Day - November 30, 2021 |
It is with great excitement that the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) would like to invite you to Ottawa to attend our annual Hill Day event as well as our National Advisory Council (NAC) Meetings.
Hill Day
Taking place on November 30, 2021, in Ottawa, this annual one-day event provides the opportunity for you to connect with critical parliamentarians from the House of Commons and Senate to elevate issues of national importance to the construction industry.
|
|
2022 OCA Construction Symposium & Trade Show |
The OCA is happy to announce that we are in the initial planning stages of the 2022 OCA Construction Symposium & Trade Show to be held at the EY Centre on April 12 & 13, 2022.
Keep an eye out on our website and in future newsletters for information regarding, Exhibiting opportunities, Sponsorship opportunities and for the Show Program and registration.
The 2022 show will feature the Youth Engagement Zone promoting the industry to High School students. New for 2022, the OCA will be adding a Career Fair to the show!
Stay tuned for more information.
We are looking forward to seeing you all in April!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
