Grasping the community benefits agreement
Let’s tackle the myths being spread by its opponents, writes Brian Zdrilic.
As president of the Allied Infrastructure and Related Construction Council of B.C., which is the formal body tasked with administering the new community benefits agreement for members of all the affiliated unions, I feel like my title is more fittingly “myth buster,” because that’s what I’ve spent most of my time doing: busting myths, lies, half-truths and general politically motivated fabrications.
I’m a millwright by trade. I started my apprenticeship in 1979, earned my Red Seal in 1984, and I’m currently the business manager for the Millwrights’ Machine Erectors and Maintenance Union Local 2736.
I was at the negotiating table for the new community benefits agreement, and I’m proud of the work everyone at that table did to ensure public projects in B.C. are economically viable, invest in communities, provide opportunities for local workers, apprentices and equity groups, are built safely and with a well-trained workforce, and address the current skilled trades shortage with an eye to the future.
Now let’s separate fact from fiction.
The B.C. building trades, comprising the union signatories to this agreement, represents 58 per cent of the non-residential construction sector. That’s a majority. Critics like to conflate the residential and non-residential sectors to make their share of the market appear bigger, but they vastly exaggerate the qualified labour pool. The Pattullo Bridge will be built by industrial trades like piledrivers, ironworkers and cement finishers. (Oh, and by the way, there will be no camp set up for these workers, so criticism of the salad and meat menus in B.C. camp contracts that have been in place for decades is moot.)
It’s been suggested the community benefits agreement framework excludes non-union contractors and workers. Non-union contractors are welcome to bid on public projects, and in fact, the contractors who work on the project will remain non-union. JJM Construction, which is affiliated with the Christian Labour Association of Canada and not a building trades union, was the general contractor on the Island Highway Project under a similarly styled project labour agreement 25 years ago.
It’s true that workers on a project must join one of the signatory unions after 30 days on the job. This ensures they are paid union wages, receive union benefits and have access to union training and safety programs. Union membership also ensures workers doing the same job at the same level get the same wage.
The Christian Labour Association of Canada has been a vocal critic of this aspect of the community benefits agreement framework. It is interesting to note that, while CLAC does not require workers on a CLAC work site to sign a membership card, it does require workers to pay dues for CLAC’s services, member or not. If a worker opts not to sign a membership card with CLAC, that worker is not eligible to run for the local or national board, be part of the bargaining committee, attend the national convention, or have access to certain other ser- vices, such as a bereavement benefit.
So, in contrast to the legitimate unions of the building trades, which requires workers to join and then treats them all equally, CLAC takes the same dues from workers whether they are members or not, and then only provides full services, including the right to hold office and participate in democracy, to those who sign cards. CLAC’s is a two-tiered system masquerading as altruism.
Others have also suggested non-union workers won’t be able to take their union pensions with them once the project is completed. These critics are about three years behind the times. Under B.C. legislation in place since 2015, workers are immediately vested, which means they are entitled to the full value of their accrued pension, regardless of whether they spend 10 hours or 10 years with a company. It seems that organizations who supposedly represent the interests of independent businesses should know these sorts of things, and it makes me wonder what else they’re getting wrong.