Construction workers' wages are not to blame for rising house prices. This was the position taken by a gathering of tenants' defense committees and citizens' groups at a press conference yesterday at Bishop's University in Sherbrooke. They were accompanied by striking residential construction workers represented by the Alliance Syndicale.
Representing the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve BAILS committee, Léandre Plouffe explained that he was there to show solidarity with striking residential construction workers. He denounced “the fact that the government is currently trying to divide workers and pit their interests against those of tenants. These are artificial divisions that have no reason to exist.”
Lewis King, carpenter and member of the citizens' group Ligue 33 in the East End of Montreal, rejects the accusations made by the government and the APCHQ employers' association. In his opinion, it is incorrect to claim that wage increases would push up house prices by $55,000.
King explains that “since 2020, the price of a single-family home has risen by 73%, but wages in residential construction have increased by only 8.2% since the last collective agreement in 2021. The difference has gone into the pockets of the bosses in the form of profits.”
Lyn O'Donnell, of the Citizen Action Committtee of Verdun (CACV), adds: “Knowing that the current Minister of Housing was formerly vice-president of Cushman-Wakefield, a real estate company worth billions, we know full well that [the government's] concerns are about their own investment portfolio.”
For her, the housing crisis will only be solved by building non-market housing and eliminating the financial profiteers. According to the community organizer, entrusting the solution to those who profit from the problem is like “thinking that the fox is worried about seeing the henhouse door open”.
She insists: “The blood of the housing crisis is on the government's hands, not those of the construction workers, who are among the most precarious in the sector. The only solution to this housing crisis is to make housing a real right, to guarantee housing for everyone through expropriation, foreclosures, the construction of social and community housing, investment in the low-income housing programs and real rent control.”
Mario Mercier, of the Association des Locataires de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke Tenants' Association), says: “You won't see François Legault, or the leader of the Parti Québécois, or any of these gentlemen in suits working on houses and climbing scaffolding. What creates value, wealth, and allows people to be housed, is you. It's the workers.”
He denounces the media's treatment of the strike, which tries to pit workers and tenants, who are often the same people, against each other. He says he was visited by the TVA news channel, who tried to get him to make anti-strike comments based on the fact that some social housing won't be completed on July 1.
He says we must not forget “to stand in solidarity with the people who are building, who are on the ground and actually making real housing come into being.”
This is also Lewis King's view. “Instead of pointing the finger at the homeless and workers for social problems, as the borough [Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve] does on sanitation issues, let's stand in solidarity with those in struggle.”
Alexandre Ricard, president of the FTQ-Construction and spokesman for the Alliance Syndicale, is delighted with the support. “Today's event demonstrates once again that when links are created between various sectors of struggle, solidarity pushes our causes further.” He thanked the CACV, Comité BAILS, Parc-Extension Action Committee and Ligue 33 for their initiative and support.
“We think that if workers and tenants join forces, we could go even further,” concludes Léandre Plouffe.“The erosion of trust in institutions is well underway, and if the government stubbornly maintains its line, the divide is going to be a salty one.”