Vaughan approves fair wage policy to eliminate ‘unfair’ competition between contractors

The policy will make contractors ‘responsible’ for their ‘own compliance’ including subcontractors working for them

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 11, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Council has approved a draft for a made-in-Vaughan fair wage policy to eliminate “unfair competitive advantage” between contractors and subcontractors performing construction work for the city.

The policy would apply to construction projects with a minimum value of $500,000 in the following sectors: industrial, commercial and institutional; sewers and water mains; roads; and heavy engineering.

The draft, approved Dec. 8, will now go to council on Tuesday, Dec. 15 for ratification.

Once ratified, the policy will be included in the 2021. The city’s fees and charges bylaw (171-2013) will also be updated to reflect a fair wage investigation fee of $5,000 for 2021.

Vaughan would use a complaint basis of investigation, similar to other municipalities, as opposed to having a separate fair wage office, as is the case in Toronto.

Vaughan’s annual value of contracting is approximately $70 million, as compared to approximately $2.8 billion of contracting in Toronto.

It is estimated that the number of contractors and subcontractors completing work in Vaughan is between 300 and 350, about 12 per cent of the number overseen by Toronto’s fair wage office.

Vaughan councillors were given three options for consideration to develop the fair wage schedules, with costs ranging between $25,000 to $155,000, and two options for the administration of the policy, with estimated costs of $25,500 annually.

Last year, the council directed staff to develop a made-in-Vaughan fair wage policy and to report back with solutions.

The policy will make contractors “responsible” for both their “own compliance” with the wage policy as well as any of their subcontractors.

“Contractors may not subcontract work to any subcontractor at a lower rate stipulated in the fair wage policy,” the staff’s report said.