Monday, March 6, 2023

The Fight for Fair and Open Tendering in Ontario

For years, CLAC has actively sought to eliminate labour monopolies so all workers—no matter their union affiliation—can work on public projects

By Michael Kamminga, Representative Intern, and Andrew Regnerus, Ontario Construction Coordinator

In 2019, the provincial government passed Bill 66, which allows certain municipalities to get out from under subcontracting restrictions that obligated them to use building trade union contractors only on municipally funded projects. As a result, qualified contractors can bid on publicly funded projects, regardless of which union the workers they are associated with.

CLAC played a major role in getting this legislation passed, and now we are starting to see the benefits.

Sault Ste. Marie, which for decades was only allowed to use contractors and workers affiliated with LIUNA and the Carpenters union, awarded a $31 million sewage plant upgrade project to Maple Reinders in 2020. Maple Reinders employs CLAC members, and so this project signaled the return of fair and open procurement, and the opening up of work opportunities for all workers, including those represented by CLAC.

The presence of construction labour monopolies in Canada is nothing new, and CLAC continues its fight for open and fair tendering. One such example is the NDP’s disastrous community benefits program in BC, which gives exclusivity to its union supporters on major provincial projects.

Closer to home, CLAC has been working in cooperation with the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada (PCA), an association of CLAC-affiliated contractors, to persuade the Ontario government to intervene to stop a restrictive project labour agreement (PLA) between the Ottawa Hospital and the Unionized Building and Construction Trades of Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. In February, PCA filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau of Canada in an effort to persuade that federal agency to begin an investigation into the matter.

CLAC has long stood for the principle that workers, collectively, should enjoy the right to choose the union that best meets their needs. When governments interfere in that choice, they violate a basic premise in Canada’s constitution—the right to freely associate.

We’re proud to stand up to these restrictive practices, and on behalf of the members, to challenge political authorities that use public projects as a means to provide favours to their supporters.

For more details on the positive benefits of ending labour monopolies on municipal projects, see “Push Back on Construction Monopolies a Win for Us All.”

The Fight for Fair and Open Tendering in Ontario

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