Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario: Premier Ford attacks construction workers

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TORONTO, Dec. 11, 2018 /CNW/ – After consulting with our members and other construction unions about the introduction of Bill 66 by the government, the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario (CDCO) is calling for action to reverse those parts of the intended legislation that attack construction workers, their unions, and their freely bargained collective agreements.

Bill 66 is supposed to be the government’s latest attempt to make Ontario more competitive but, when it comes to construction, Premier Ford has apparently decided to do this by attacking ordinary workers. Parts of this Bill will eliminate construction bargaining rights and existing, long standing, collective agreements covering construction workers and various public sector employers, including municipalities, school boards, hospitals, universities and alike. In short, the ability of construction workers working for these types of employers to freely bargain collective agreements for their construction work will be made unlawful.

“The current laws concerning these types of employers and their relations with construction unions were put in place by the last Conservative Premier, Mike Harris, but even they apparently do not go far enough for Doug Ford“, said Mike Yorke, the President and Director of Public Affairs of the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario. “Our Union has had productive relationships with these types of employers, such as the City of Toronto, which in many cases go back decades, and which are designed to ensure that the employers get real value for money while construction workers can make a fair and honest living. Apparently, those types of relationships are not something that this Premier wants to see continue”, continued Mr. Yorke.

“This government is now attacking all construction workers and their basic rights. Our Union for one intends to fight for our members and their rights in every way we can. The Supreme Court of Canada has made clear that the right to collective bargaining is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and if we have to go all the way to the Supreme Court in Ottawa to make Premier Ford’s government recognize this, then that is exactly what we are going to do”, said Tony Iannuzzi, the leader of the Carpenters’ Union in Ontario in reinforcing Mr. Yorke’s comments.

About the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario (CDCO)
The Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario (“CDCO”) is composed of 16 affiliated Local Unions of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners across the province. In total, we represent approximately 30,000 women and men working in a wide range of skilled trades, including carpentry, drywall, resilient flooring, concrete formwork, underwater construction, welding, scaffolding, and a long list of other construction-related work.