The Contract Cleaners Association of Alberta

Excerpts from a speech given by Brian King to the Edmonton Chapter of BOMA (Spring 2006) 

Randy Burke, currently of Daylight Cleaning Services and Brian King, with Omni Facility Services, formed the Contract Cleaners Association of Alberta as a non-profit society in the early 90s. In these days there were many reasons why we needed such an association, but one of the prime motivation factors was to counter the very stringent and well-funded UNION advertising campaign against using CONTRACT custodial services by: province, municipalities, university’s, colleges, schools and major commercial industries. We were able to tell the contract cleaners side of the story through press releases, media interviews and by doing the job. No individual cleaning company could have hoped to fight against the strengths of the Unions at that time but collectively we were able to make an impact. Our association went into hiatus in the late 90s but currently, Fred Edwards, president of the Calgary Chapter, and Brian King, president of the Edmonton Chapter, have collectively in excess of 60 active members. 

The goal of our association is to increase the awareness of the professional aspects of the custodial industry. This association was formed for mainly the same reasons most trade associations, like BOMA, are formed – recognition, credibility and, hopefully, respect for the integrity of the members and of the association. All members are required to sign our code of ethics and agree to maintain the standards of our association. Our code of ethics is as follows: 

• To conduct all business affairs with honesty, integrity and in accordance with all municipal, provincial and federally legislated statutes;
• To furnish adequate equipment, qualified and trained personnel and also provide products of high quality to achieve and maintain the highest standard of performance;
• To accurately represent services or products to our clients and to respond with prompt and courteous handling of requests or complaints;
• To be environmentally conscious;
• To contribute regularly to the improvement of the industry’s public reputation;
• To participate in the industry’s growth, health and safety programs, and through the activities of the association; and
• To do no act that will bring disrepute to any member, the association or our industry.

 

In the last years, our association has actively supported two main changes in our industry – the emphasis on safety and the environmental impact of the chemicals we use in our facilities. We have supported having The Alberta Certificate of Recognition (“COR”) for safety as a standard to achieve for all custodial firms. Our association has run several safety programs in Edmonton and Calgary including: WHMIS train the trainer, designing a health and safety program for your firm, first aid courses, leadership in safety and excellence, to name a few, along with seminars on “Changes to the Alberta OH&S and how it affects the custodial industry. These changes that came into effect in 2005 are enormous and it particularly affects BOMA members as all building owners and their agents – the property managers – have been designated as the “prime contractors” when it comes to any contractor/worker doing work on their sites/facilities. For details contact the Government web site – www.whs.gov.ab.ca. We have held several meetings with government as the sponsoring partners in an effort to reduce the costs in obtaining “COR”, As it stands now, it costs a minimum of $1000 just to get started in the program, $500 annually for membership in ACSA and just under $500 for the four required safety courses. This is a major impediment to smaller firms to say nothing about the large amount of documentation required for these programs. However there is an upside, the refunds from WCB due to the partnership program usually balance the costs out. It is the initial outlay in time and money that causes the smaller firms to question the justification. 

The CCAA has, in conjunction with supplier/associate members, annually run a mini-trade show where our supplier members have the opportunity to show not only CCAA members but others in the trade and those in facility management, all that is new in equipment/products for the industry. 

We are an active association with monthly meetings usually with a guest speaker. Some of our recent speakers have been G. Weir of Canadian Revenue Agency who gave us a talk of the difference between employees and subcontractors, and the consequences that could result of not being sure; R. Noce on Contracts; D. Allen of Sci-Tech on environmental chemicals; and M. McDowell of CFIB on our new Alberta Labour Standards Act. For the last three years, our association has placed a collective ad in the Edmonton Yellow Pages outlining the professionalism of our members. 

Basically we feel that all custodial firms, large or small, whether they are in Edmonton, Montreal or Halifax, all have similar problems and that being a member of an association like ours gives them a platform that may get listened to. We have a $2 billion industry with many thousands of employees and we are stronger together than as individuals. 

Over the past few years, we have attempted to form a national contract cleaners association. Mario Levasseur heads up the Quebec chapter which is a very active association, while Robert Crozier leads the Maritime group. However, we have been unsuccessful in getting Ontario set up as an association and, until this happens, the chance of a national contract cleaners association is not yet viable. 

For more information on the association, visit their web site at www.ccaalberta.com or contact Brian King at (780) 428-9508.