Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Pressing for Change

CLAC continues to lobby municipal and provincial governments for members in construction and healthcare

By Ian DeWaard, Ontario Director

Construction

The past summer construction season started with a bang for CLAC representatives as they managed the vacation pay for 5,500 members employed at 184 participating employers. The union receives and holds earned after-tax vacation pay in an employee trust fund, which members can access when laid off; when they experience an unforeseen financial hardship; and, of course, when they take vacation time.

Annually, the accumulated funds must be paid out in full, and this provides the chance to visit members on site to hand deliver cheques. In 2022, we introduced a direct deposit option, a service that is quickly gaining traction with members, as 40 percent have already opted for it.

In August, we attended the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference. We routinely attend the AMO conference to promote fair, open, and unrestricted construction tendering in Ontario’s municipalities. It provides an opportunity to connect with many elected officials and staff in both municipal and provincial governments, as well as construction and healthcare industry stakeholders. It’s remarkable how often and how varied the ways members (firefighters, healthcare professionals, and construction workers) enrich the province’s civic life and the degree to which their work is the subject of presentations and information sessions at this event.

Toronto’s summer mayoral election brought the issue of fair and open tendering and Ontario’s Bill 66—legislation that CLAC successfully lobbied for—back into the spotlight. In 2019, Toronto opted to remain a closed-shop construction employer, and this decision was a key topic during the mayoral debate and the subject of negative commentary in both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. A city that is financially underwater continues to overspend on capital construction by an estimated 14 to 21 percent, or up to $347 million annually. The city’s new mayor, Olivia Chow, would do well to consider ending the exclusive and costly deal handed to the Building Trades Unions.

Healthcare

Bill 124, legislation that obligated public-sector workers to endure three years of one percent wage caps, has been overturned by the court, although the government is appealing the decision. In the meantime, arbitrators have been issuing retroactive and new wage adjustments on previously settled agreements at rates significantly higher than have been seen in many years. Some members have benefitted already, receiving as much as 3.5 percent and 2.7 percent retroactively for two years respectively, in addition to 1 percent increases already given.

In August, we were invited to meet with the top policy people at Ontario’s Ministry of Labour to present CLAC’s paper entitled HLDAA (Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act) and Ontario’s Healthcare and Human Resource Crises. The paper was received well, and we’ll next try to meet with elected officials to determine whether they’re willing to act on our recommendations.

In September, CLAC members and staff attended a press conference at Queen’s Park, Ontario’s legislature, to speak to Bill 54, WSIB Coverage for Workers in Residential Care Facilities and Group Homes Act, 2022. CLAC’s delegates made a compelling case for why retirement home workers should be included in Ontario’s workers’ compensation system. Unfortunately, the bill was voted down in the legislature. Lobbying efforts in support of this cause will continue in the new year.

Mira Ponomarenko, CLAC Ontario healthcare coordinator, and Local 304 member and steward Carol Bartley-Fray, a cook at Regency Retirement Residence in Mississauga, attended a press conference at Queen’s Park to speak to Bill 54.

Pressing for Change

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