10Oct
You can read MFUR's presentation below:
I am pleased to speak today as President of MFUR. We are retired union members and the Manitoba affiliate of the 300,000 member Congress of Union Retirees of Canada
(CURC).
We appear today to speak in favour of Bill 7 and the restoration of Project Labour Agr eements for public sector capital projects. We support the positions of both the Ma nitoba Federation of Labour (MFL) and the Manitoba Building Trades on Bill 7.
In 2021 I appeared before this legislative committee to speak against Bill 13 which ende d Project Labour Agreements, many of the arguments advanced in that presentation rem ain relevant, including the following:
• Project Labour Agreements existed in Manitoba for over 50 years, prior to the repeal by the former PC government. In those five decades PLA’s supported good paying jobs and worker safety and training on all government project construction sites.
• MFUR rejects the arguments of groups like the Merit Contractors who talk of forced unionization through PLA’s and we note the Supreme Court of Canada rejected their arguments in refusing to hear their legal challenge in 2012.
• Manitoba author, Doug Smith, in his 2017 article, “Labour Conflict at Hydroelectric Generating Stations” (Manitoba History No. 85, Fall 2017) argued that the original impetus for PLA’s was:
“If wage rates were fixed, contractors would be obliged to compete based on skill and ability rather than on their ability to cut wages”.
• Like many other jurisdictions, Manitoba faces skilled trades shortages, and a shortfall in private sector apprenticeship opportunities. In restoring the use of PLA’s, we urge government to embrace principals of fairness contained in British Columbia’s Community Based Agreements (CBA’s) which includes:
- Maximizing apprenticeship opportunities on major public infrastructure projects.
- Priority hiring and training for indigenous peoples and other equity seeking groups including women.
- Wage alignment to prevailing industry rates to promote good wages for all, wages able to support families.
Building trades unions have invested millions in training facilities to prepare the skilled workforce of tomorrow. Of interest is the fact that many who oppose PLA’s are not involved in training workers, their only concern is the bottom line. This “bottom-line mentality” found its way into the 2016 PC platform, and the former Bill 13, it stated:
“Shop smarter with government purchasing by reducing the number of untendered contracts and ending forced unionization of company employees in order to work on public contracts”.
PLA’s do not force unionization on anyone. They do promote fairness and prevent a “free ride” for those who do not invest in trades training or apprenticeships.
MFUR fully supports Bill 7 and the restoration of PLA’s in Manitoba.
Thank you.
