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Toronto councillors vote to maintain city’s ‘construction employer’ status

Thestar.com
June 20, 2019
Francine Kopun

Toronto will remain a “construction employer,” meaning the city will continue to only hire contractors on certain infrastructure projects who work with certain unions, council decided Wednesday.

City staff had calculated that the city could save between $12 and $48 million a year by opening up the bidding process to more competition.

Offered the opportunity by the province to end the restrictive practice, city councillors voted instead to maintain it. They also voted to add another union to the list of those they exclusively do business with -- the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) -- which critics said will make it even more difficult for other unions and contractors to compete.

“The mayor and a majority of council have decided to expand the cartel controlling public infrastructure construction in Toronto and we think that’s wrong,” said Sean Reid, vice-president and regional director of the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA).

PCA, which represents 20,000 skilled construction workers, had been lobbying for a more inclusive policy that would increase the number of contractors bidding.

“It’s really quite shocking that the city of Toronto finds itself in a situation where it has significant budget challenges and it has an opportunity to solve those budget challenges to a large extent … and they’ve chosen not to do that,” Reid said.

Ian DeWaard, Ontario director of the Christian Labour Association of Canada, (CLAC), which describes itself as the country’s fastest-growing union, said he believes the deal will drive the cost of construction even higher, while fewer workers outside of the selected unions will be eligible to work on city projects.

He said he was “surprised and baffled” by the decision.

Councillor Ana Bailao (Ward 9 Davenport) said she supported the motions because the savings would likely have been less than thought once other factors were considered -- for example, the city would have had to hire more staff to ensure that its fair wage policy was being adhered to and to enforce health and safety measures.

Unions also produce more apprenticeships and training, she said.

The city of Toronto is bound by collective agreements with nine unions working in the industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) sector of the construction industry. To win projects with the city in this sector, contractors must agree to employ workers from the nine unions to perform jobs covered by those agreements.

The city awarded $616,830,389 in ICI contracts in 2018.

The recently passed Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, allowed cities like Toronto to walk away from those collective agreements. By voting to opt out of the provincial legislation, councillors have agreed to continue doing business on ICI projects with the nine unions -- now 10, including LIUNA.

“I think Toronto council made the right choice. They voted for a robust training sector, safe workplaces and for good work performed by people who are paid fairly,” said Phil Gillies, executive director of the Ontario Construction Consortium.

Gillies said unionized construction sites have fewer accidents with lost time and unions run 95 state-of-the-art training centres across the province.

“They are preparing the next generation of skilled tradespeople and making a considerable investment in it.”