Closed Tendering Costs Workers and Taxpayers

DATE: July 23, 2012

Letter to the editor re: Ontario government, building trades slam open tendering proposal as “race to the bottom” Daily Commercial News, July 17, 2012.

Closed tendering is an out-dated policy that benefits vested interests at the expense of Ontario’s workers and taxpayers. CLAC is pleased to see this issue raised in the Daily Commercial News.
 
However, it appears that those who benefit from closed tendering will use any means—even spurious ones—available to them to maintain their stranglehold on public work. Patrick Dillon states that cities “have a responsibility to make sure that their projects are done as safely as possible, with qualified trades people and qualified contractors.”
 
Mr. Dillon forgets that the Building Trades Council unions do not have a monopoly over concern for workers’ and public safety. Our union and our contractors are committed to safety as a top priority.

CLAC and its affiliated contractors live out this commitment through our collective agreements. Our members spend thousands of hours ensuring that they are properly trained and able to work at the highest level of safety.

It is clear that Patrick Dillon wants to convince Ontarians that the Building Trades Council unions have a monopoly on safety. They don’t. Nobody has a monopoly on concern for workers’ safety. And nobody should have a monopoly on public work either.
 

Hank Beekhuis is CLAC's Ontario director