COLUMN: View from the Legislature – NDP divide Manitobans on construction projects

It’s a pretty good slogan that Manitoba’s NDP premier has gotten lots of political mileage out of. Yet it is becoming increasingly clear that when Wab Kinew talks about “One Manitoba” it really is a slogan and not much more. Because the longer the NDP are in office, the more it seems clear that there are winners and losers that are being selected by the government.

The most recent example is how the NDP have divided the Manitoba construction industry. Earlier this year the NDP unveiled an agreement that it signed with trade unions that all government construction projects that are more than $50 million (most schools for example), will be subject to. Included in the agreement are rules imposing certain wages on the project workers as well as other conditions. And this will all be administered and supervised by a collective of unions. For this, all construction companies on the project, whether they are unionized or not, will be charged a per worker fee.

Not surprisingly, nonunionized construction companies in Manitoba (which make up the vast majority of construction companies) are unhappy with the NDP plan that will require them to pay what seems to amount to union dues, have it monitored by unions, and have an additional worker fee added. This seems likely to increase the cost to taxpayers of building projects.

If this sounds like an agreement that must have been written by union leaders, it appears that is the case. The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA), the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba (CARM) and the Winnipeg Construction Association (WCA) released documents this week that show Manitoba Building Trades proposed the labour framework in July of last year and only 13 days later, the NDP signed the agreement. Not much of a negotiation. And the non-unionized construction companies were never consulted at all.

As a result, the MHCA, CARM and WCA have asked the provincial ombudsman to halt the agreement and conduct a review of exactly how it came to be and the impact to Manitoba taxpayers. They have also created a website (redflagmanitoba.ca) to raise awareness of their concerns.

If this all sounds somewhat familiar, it means you were paying attention when the NDP last came to government in 1999. At that time, they brought in legislation (often referred to as forced unionization legislation) that required all workers on certain government projects to pay union dues, whether they belonged to a union or not. That agreement however was limited to essentially mega-projects, like the expansion of the floodway. It was never intended for smaller government projects like schools.

The new plan under the NDP has again raised concerns about forcing non-union workers to pay union dues or fees and to have union oversight of non-unionized staff. And what problem is this intended to solve? The NDP can’t really point to one. The construction industry in Manitoba has been one of the more stable ones in Canada.

For all the talk of One Manitoba, the NDP labour agreement that has been put into place by Premier Kinew is dividing the construction industry and its workers. It is not designed to fix a pressing problem and will potentially cost Manitoba taxpayers more for the important projects that they need. To learn more about how this impacts you, visit redflagmanitoba.ca