The BC Building Trades strongly oppose the BC Conservative, “Public Sector Construction Projects Procurement Act” introduced this morning in the BC Legislature. This proposal is a direct attack on provisions that prioritize local labour, ensuring British Columbians are first in line for jobs on BC Projects. It is an attack on fair wages, safe working conditions and the skilled union workforce that builds and maintains the province’s public infrastructure.
It is deeply concerning that this bill was introduced just two days after representatives from the BC Building Trades met with the BC Conservative caucus. Harman Banghu, Gavin Dew, Linda Hepner and Kiel Giddens all sat across from the BC Building Trades and at no point during that meeting were labour leaders informed that legislation to ban project labour agreements was imminent. Bringing forward such a significant proposal – without transparency or good-faith dialogue – raises serious concerns about the Conservatives’ willingness to engage honestly with the workers and organizations who help build this province.
Project labour agreements and community benefit agreements are proven tools that help ensure large, complex projects are completed efficiently, safely and with a guaranteed supply of highly trained and qualified workers. They establish clear standards of wages, training and working conditions before construction begins, creating stability on worksites and help keep projects on schedule.
At a time when private industry is looking to secure the labour supply needed to build major projects and are choosing to sign PLAs with the Building Trades to do it, it is ridiculous to prevent government from locking in that same labour security through project labour agreements. PLAs are a practical tool that help guarantee the skilled workforce government projects depend on.
The BC Building Trades calls on the Conservative Party of BC to withdraw this legislation.
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Media Contact
Layne Clark – Director of Workforce Development, BC Building Trades Council
604-908-0239
Background
Established in 1967, today the BC Building Trades represents 20 craft construction unions and more than 50,000 unionized construction workers in BC. These highly skilled workers account for approximately 50 percent of the non-residential construction labour workforce. We work with construction companies to leverage the most out of development for all stakeholders, to advance the economic prosperity of the province, to put local workers first and to ultimately build a better British Columbia.