Job-site policy cited in cost of Brandon school construction

BRANDON — The Construction Association of Rural Manitoba has said it will cost as much as 20 per cent more to build a school in Brandon because of the labour policy introduced by the provincial government in 2025.

The regulations include prioritizing union workers when adding extra staff and paying a fee of 85 cents per worker per hour, executive director Shawn Wood said.

“We know from talking to our members: if they’re going to bid on a project, just the additional admin costs and the additional cost of that 85 cents per man hour puts them anywhere from a five to 20 per cent increase in cost,” Wood said.

“I believe the Brandon school will be closer to the 20 per cent.”

The Manitoba Jobs Agreements is a burden to construction companies because they must meet collective bargaining wages for some staff, pay into union dues and manage layers of administrative work, Wood said.

As a result, he said, companies charge the province more or don’t bid on the work.

The NDP introduced the policy last September, stating it supports workforce development, creates good jobs and supports the economy. The agreements target large public infrastructure projects, such as four new schools announced by the province, and set “standardized terms of employment … so that all workers get the same wages, benefits and protections — whether they are unionized or non-unionized.”

Wood said the new requirements will affect rural Manitoba the hardest. Rural areas have the highest representation of non-unionized workers, all of whom will be low priority on projects covered by the new policy, he said.

“So under the Manitoba Jobs Agreements, if you don’t have a current employee and need to bring on additional staff, you have to utilize union shop,” Wood said. “Which means these guys then have to go to the union hall and hire union workers to increase their staff members.”

Roughly 95 per cent of the construction workforce in rural Manitoba is non-unionized, Wood said.

Evan Keller, president of Keller Developments in Brandon, said the policy isn’t logical.

“It’s clearly driven by our current government’s connection to the unions. That’s all it is,” he said. “Outside of the Perimeter (Highway), this makes no sense.”

Keller’s company decided not to bid for work at the Brandon school because of the “red tape” involved, he said. He said the new requirements are onerous.

“They’re taking union dues from open shop companies; I think they’re crossing a line there,” he said.

Keller said it appears many companies are not bidding on projects at the schools, and those that do bid are “having to throw a very high number out.”

The result is that “it’s not going to help keep this project on budget, on time, or any of those key metrics that you want to see in a construction project. If anything, it’s going to do the opposite,” he said.

Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu did not respond to the association’s concern about increased construction costs involving the Brandon school.

“The Manitoba Jobs Agreement is about putting Manitoba workers first and making sure that our public projects are finished on time and on budget, and deliver high wages, good benefits, and safe worksites for Manitoba workers, whether they are in a union or not,” Sandhu said in an emailed statement.

In March, Sandhu defended the 85 cents per hour fee: “This is about training the workforce for the future.”

Tanya Palson, executive director of Manitoba Building Trades, has said the fee will also cover administrative expenses. She heads the Building Trades Bargaining Council, which has representation from 13 unions.

The council is overseeing the rollout of the jobs agreements and will track compliance, including apprenticeship hour completion.

“It’s wild to me that we’re at a point where there’s this much pushback,” Palson said in March. “The government is willing to pay contractors to pay their workers a fair prevailing wage rate.”

The fee will likely vary based on the project, Palson has said. Unionized workers will continue to pay union dues.

Palson commented after the three largest construction associations in Manitoba — the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba, the Winnipeg Construction Association and the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association — wrote to the government to oppose the policy.

On Friday, Wood said one reason companies aren’t bidding on the school projects is that the policy stands to introduce union reps and members to non-unionized teams, which may lead to unionization of small businesses.

“If you’re on that job, and there’s union reps on the same job that may be trying to influence your workers to join the union … then there’s the risk that that company will become unionized,” he said. “We’re not against unions. It’s the freedom of worker choice is what we’re looking for.”

Wood said under Manitoba’s “card check system,” companies can become unionized without a vote if 50 per cent plus one of the workers sign union membership cards. This can “impose” a union in a situation when many staff members, and the owners, don’t want one, he said.

Wood said three companies in the Brandon area would have bid on earth work at the Brandon school site, but declined because of the risks introduced by the new policy.

— Brandon Sun, with Free Press files