FIONA FAMULAK: By wielding a legislative hammer to bring in an unjustifiable policy for the construction industry, Premier John Horgan’s government is implementing a solution that is looking for a problem
Reprinted with the
approval of the Vancouver Regional Construction
Association
** First published in the Province Newspaper Feb 24th
** First published in the Province Newspaper Feb 24th
Preying on fear and pulling on the public’s heart
strings will never make a prescriptive and regressive policy a good public
policy.
Yet, that’s exactly what the NDP government and
B.C. Building Trades unions are doing as they work to sell voters on the need
to build key infrastructure projects under a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).
Between them, they are touting benefits such as
good-paying local jobs, increased hiring of women and Aboriginal workers,
quotas for apprenticeship training, and labour peace as reasons to support the
CBA.
While our association supports creating
opportunities for women, Aboriginal workers and under-represented groups, the
Vancouver Regional Construction Association does not support this CBA because
of the way it was negotiated, the way it’s being rolled out, and its potential
impact on the construction industry and B.C. taxpayers.
That’s not a partisan criticism of an NDP policy.
As an independent, non-partisan organization representing both union and
open-shop companies, we would make the same statement regardless of which
political party is in power.
Our issue is that this CBA is an exclusive
agreement between two signatories — the provincial government’s Crown
corporation and the select trade unions. There was a lack of full industry
consultation during its negotiation.
It includes an embedded project labour agreement,
requiring all tradesmen and tradeswomen working on a CBA project to join the
prescribed union and all companies working on CBA projects to secure their
labour from the Crown corporation.
We are not concerned about who builds B.C.’s
infrastructure — union and open-shop construction companies have successfully
engaged each other for construction services for decades — but rather how it
gets done.
Sadly, the rationale for the labour agreements is
based on assumptions that don’t hold true.
It starts with the notion there are large, untapped
pools of workers looking for jobs in the construction industry. While these
pools exist, they are not to the extent needed for the construction industry to
meet the demand for skilled labour in the coming years.
B.C.’s construction industry needs to attract
14,600 additional workers to meet peak market demand between 2019 and 2021.
Over the next decade, it will need to attract 25,000 new workers to keep pace
with demand and retirements.
Finding new workers will not be easy.
B.C.’s unemployment rate last month almost equals
the lowest rate recorded in the past 40 years. At 4.6 per cent, our
unemployment rate is close to what economists refer to as “full employment.”
This means there is a scarcity of job seekers in B.C., and with only one in
every 45 students entering a construction trade program out of high school, we
need a strategy to grow our skilled workforce.
The project labour agreement will not grow our
workforce. Instead, it will move skilled workers from their current employers
to the new Crown corporation, leaving those employers with the challenge of
rebuilding their workforce. In simple terms, the agreement will rob Peter
to pay Paul. Our members tell us this is starting — B.C. Building Trades’
representatives are already trying to poach workers from construction sites.
The agreement also presumes that unions should be
the source of industry training and ignores the apprenticeship programs that many
union and open-shop construction employers already have in place. Our members
recognize that an ongoing commitment to training and apprenticeship development
is essential to sustaining a skilled workforce over the long term. Had industry
been consulted, we would have explored what more we could do to reach the
government’s targets for apprenticeship training.
Industry would have also talked about the efforts
already underway to increase recruitment from groups traditionally
underrepresented in the current construction labour force, including women,
Indigenous workers and new Canadians.
Another assumption that doesn’t hold true is the
B.C. Building Trades’ claim that the project labour agreement is needed to
ensure construction of the Pattullo Bridge or widening of the Trans-Canada
Highway is not disrupted by strikes. The truth is, the construction industry
has enjoyed labour peace for more than 30 years.
With regards to how the project labour agreement is
being rolled out, we have serious concerns about the lack of details coming
from B.C. Infrastructure Benefits Inc. — the Crown corporation created as the
employer and source of labour for CBA projects.
Construction companies need to know how the labour
agreement will work operationally. If they don’t have the details, they will be
forced to submit their bid without a complete understanding of project risk —
if they choose to bid at all. Either scenario can only drive up the cost of
construction.
There are numerous opportunities for industry and
government to work together to achieve our mutually held goals. However, so
far, government has opted to go it alone and negotiate a deal excluding a key
stakeholder — construction employers.
By wielding a legislative hammer to bring in an
unjustifiable policy for the construction industry, Premier John Horgan’s
government is implementing a solution that is looking for a problem. It’s why
the Vancouver Regional Construction Association has joined a coalition of
like-minded business organizations to challenge the policy in court. British
Columbians deserve better.
Fiona Famulak is president of the Vancouver
Regional Construction Association (VRCA), the largest construction association in
B.C.
The VRCA represents union and non-union general contractors, trade contractors, manufacturers, suppliers and professionals working in the construction industry.
The VRCA represents union and non-union general contractors, trade contractors, manufacturers, suppliers and professionals working in the construction industry.
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