The Toronto Construction Association was originally established in 1867 as the Toronto Builders Society and has continued uninterrupted since then with two name changes to the Toronto Builders Exchange and finally to the current Toronto Construction Association. T.C.A. is the largest mixed trade association in Canada and one of the largest in North America with a current membership of 2000.

General Contractors' Section History

As far back as the 1920's there are records of contractors within T.C.A. negotiating with Building Trade Unions as a group however agreements concluded by the group were signed by each individual contractor on a voluntary basis. Following World War II Building Trade Unions were successful in a major expansion of the number of companies under collective agreement and for the first time the then Toronto Builders Exchange hired a full time Director of Labour Relations to co-ordinate the efforts of member companies in their negotiations and to act as chief spokesman. Those negotiations were always limited to the so-called civil trades (Carpenters, Labourers, Bricklayers, Operating Engineers, Cement Masons and Rod workers). In the same period Mechanical, Electrical and Sheetmetal contractors established separate trade associations to represent the particular interest of their members including the negotiation of agreements with the United Association, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Sheetmetal Union.

In the 1960's the General Contractors' Section was established as a separately supervised and funded Section to represent the interests of Contractors under agreement with one or more of the six civil trades. Subsequently in 1970 the Labour Relations Act of Ontario was amended to allow employer associations to obtain the sole right to bargain on behalf of employers bound by a particular Building Trade Union Agreement. This was enabling legislation and did not require industry wide bargaining. The General Contractors' Section with the support of contractors bound by five agreements became the only accredited employer association for the negotiation of one agreement in each of five trades - Carpenters, Labourers, Operating Engineers, Cement Masons and Rodworkers covering the Greater Toronto Area. By agreement, the Ontario Masonry Contractors Association with input from the General Contractors became the bargaining agent for Masonry employers.

Further changes to the Labour Relations Act in 1978 resulted in the implementation of mandatory province-wide single trade bargaining in the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (I.C.I.) construction sector. 25 identified trades were designated with one bargaining agent each representing the Employer and Employee (union) for all 25 trades.

In 1976 the General Contractors’ Section joined with 13 other local general contractor groups to establish the Labour Relations Bureau of the Ontario General Contractors Association, known today as the Construction Labour Relations Association of Ontario (C.L.R.A.O.) The C.L.R.A.O. is a party to the six civil trade agreements noted above. However, other specialty trade associations that had collective agreements prior to 1978 are also represented in negotiations.