UNIONS WANT THEIR MEMBERS ALONE ON BIG PROJECTS.
Bigger pieces of infrastructure work targeted
OT TAWA • Unions are ramping up efforts to secure a larger share of work on infrastructure projects, including a push for labour standards that critics say could potentially spoon-feed billions worth of public funds to traditional organized labour groups.
Representatives with Canada’s Building Trades Unions met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa Monday, in part to discuss the prospect of introducing so-called “community benefit agreements” at a federal level.
Such agreements, already introduced in British Columbia and now being floated in Alberta, effectively oblige companies building public infrastructure projects to meet specific labour and employment standards in an effort to, say, support local jobs or promote women in the workforce. They have been met with deep skepticism by non-traditional union groups, who argue the policies could expose big-ticket projects to political influence and hamper competitive bidding.
The issue points to a longstanding rift between “nontraditional” union groups — who say they operate under a structure that is lower cost and less restrictive for workers — and their more “traditional” counterparts like the CBTU.
If adopted on a broad basis, critics argue CBAs could raise the costs of provincial and federal infrastructure projects, including those funded by Ottawa’s $186.7-billion infrastructure spending program, and could reshape the bidding process for companies that build anything from roads and bridges to oilsands facilities.
Paul de Jong, president of the Progressive Contractors of Canada, said the CBAs B.C. Premier John Horgan introduced in July unfairly favour union groups that support the NDP. The CBAs apply to two projects — the replacement of the Pattullo Bridge between New Westminster and Surrey and the expansion of a section of the Trans-Canada Highway — and effectively compel all workers to become members of the B.C. Building Trades Union.
That stipulation comes even though 85 per cent of construction workers in the province are not a part of the B.C.’s building trades, which de Jong said has steamrollered his members’ ability to bid on projects.
“It’s actually anti-competitive,” he said, adding that he is broadly supportive of CBAs as long as they don’t include clauses that restrict employees’ union affiliations.
A spokesperson for B.C.’s infrastructure office said the province may expand the CBA program to other public infrastructure projects on a “case-by-case basis.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates that B.C.’s CBA program will force taxpayers to fork out “significantly more for provincial infrastructure projects,” according to a recent report. For the $1.4-billion Pattullo Bridge project alone, the report said, the program could raise costs by $130 million to $259 million.
Building trades unions have been undertaking a broad-based lobbying effort both at the federal and provincial levels to push for CBAs.
“We’re moving the yardsticks,” said Robert Blakely, a director at Canada’s Building Trades Unions who met with Trudeau Monday.
That push could put political pressure on the Liberals, who are competing with the traditionally union-friendly NDP for labour’s support in the 2019 election. Blakely, for his part, said introducing CBAs align with the Liberal’s stated goals of supporting working class families and promoting gender diversity in the workplace.
“When we consider this talk about helping the middle class, they need to work to bring people in,” he said.
The federal government did not directly respond to questions about whether it is mulling a federal CBA program, but pointed to the “Community Employment Agreements” already in place under its infrastructure spending plans. Those agreements are essentially voluntary labour standards that aim to promote workplace diversity and training practices.
The building trades already won a small victory in August when the previous owner of the Trans Mountain pipeline expanded the union’s share of work on the pipeline, a decision for which unions had also been lobbying.
In a September speech to the Building Trades of Alberta, premier Rachel Notley said the province would also begin a “small-scale” pilot project to explore CBAs.
“If we’re going to spend billions of dollars on public infrastructure, we’re going to make sure it comes with local jobs, training and apprenticeship opportunities, and benefits for working people, like all of you,” she said.
Notley told the union crowd that CBAs would ensure Albertan workers would feel the benefits of a gradually improving economy — “especially in the homes of each and every one of you and the folks you represent.”
Alberta Chambers of Commerce CEO Ken Kobly warned Alberta against implementing CBAs similar to B.C.'s, which in an Edmonton Journal op-ed he called a “cruel joke.”
Wayne Prins, the head of non-traditional union CLAC, said he agrees “without hesitation” with CBAs.
The CLAC is a partner with the Progressive Contractors Association, both of which argue British Columbia’s CBAs are politically influenced. Both groups say they are more optimistic that Alberta’s CBA program will provide a fairer bidding process, based on their conversations with government officials.