Wednesday, March 1, 2023

NDP Labour Model Puts Locals on the Picket Line

The NDP government’s restrictive labour model for public infrastructure projects continues to place undue burden on British Columbians, generating massive cost-overruns, reducing bidders, and, perhaps most egregiously, denying local and Indigenous workers the right to work

By Ryan Bruce, BC Government Relations Manager

The work stoppages on the Cowichan District Hospital project represent an inevitable consequence of poor public policy. Workers of KDC, a Cowichan Tribes-owned company, formed a picket line because, after an extended period clearing the site and hauling gravel without issue, they had been informed that they were no longer welcome on the site because they are not members of one of the NDP’s hand-picked donor unions—a requirement under the government’s community benefits agreement.

This may appear to be a strange development for a policy that aims to provide increased and prioritized access to work for Indigenous and other underrepresented groups, but the framework’s discriminatory scheme was baked-in from the start.

Approximately 85 percent of BC construction workers are not members of the NDP’s selected unions. They choose not to be a part of those unions. They continue to exercise their constitutional right to freely associate with any labour organization of their preference or to not join a union at all.

The only exception, of course, is when they attempt to work on a public infrastructure project, which is funded by their own tax dollars. Eventually, workers were bound to stand and say no.

Advocates for fair and open tendering, where workers and employers of all labour models (including nonunion) are welcome to participate in projects, have been tackling this issue since its inception in 2018. Scores of workers went to the legislature to tell the NDP government how the deeply flawed policy negatively impacts them, their families, and their communities.

Sadly, they, along with the majority of BC’s construction workforce, continue to be ignored. We can only hope that those standing with Cowichan Tribes can accomplish what so many have hoped for—prompt the government to open public projects to the public.

In exchange, the NDP government can save itself hundreds of millions of dollars, which they could utilize to build even more hospitals and other critical infrastructure to benefit communities throughout the province. The cost of Cowichan District Hospital alone has escalated by $559 million. Imagine how half of a billion dollars could be spent in your community.

It is counterintuitive to restrict the workforce during a labour shortage. It is nonsensical to drive up costs while communities and public programs are struggling. And it is immoral to deny Indigenous workers access to work in their own territory. It is time to stand for change.

NDP Labour Model Puts Locals on the Picket Line

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