Ontario trades college remains on Merit OpenShop Contractors’ radar

The Ontario College of Trades is one of the main focuses in 2012 for the Merit OpenShop Contractors Association of Ontario.

Frank Viti, President and CEO of Merit Ontario, said the College of Trades, which is currently perceived as having a large union bias, could be “a serious impediment to growth of the industry.”

“If the union domination continues and the union domination leads to an uncompetitive marketplace in construction, a fully closed-shop industry, in the next six to 10 years, we will open the collusion door for sure.”

Viti said Merit will support the College of Trades, but if they don’t notice a shift, “then we will work aggressively toward the abolition of the College” adding that he’d like to see the entity work.

The College of Trades recently released its Roster of Adjudicators, the ratio review process and the schedule for ratio reviews, which begins this April.

He said the construction industry is comprised of 70 per cent open shop and 30 per cent closed shop, which is not represented at the College.

“It’s not vested interest based. If we’re moving forward, we’d like to see a minimum 50-50 split around representation on the College because of its member registry, promotion of trades, training, research, and cross-province issues. This is going to be a powerful entity that some people will argue shouldn’t be detached from government.”

He said Merit Ontario will endorse the College if the ratio reviews encompass the presentation of data from both sides of the issue and with objective people looking at them. Merit will present evidence supporting a 1:1 journeyman to apprentice ratio in most trades.

“We won’t simply be claiming that, we will be producing the evidence to demonstrate why we think it’s both safe and constructive for the industry.”

He said they will also pay attention to membership prices for the College, which will be a self-funded institution.

In 2012 Merit will also work to ensure that municipalities, like Kitchener and Hamilton, consider moving from a closed bid to an open bid tendering process.

Merit was recently involved with ensuring that Metrolinx’s Eglinton cross-town project allows for full best bidding processes, as per provincial policy.

“The TTC as the agent of Metrolinx was starting to insert union-only clauses in terms of their RFPs (requests for proposals),” he said.

“We were successful in arguing that provincial policy and provincial money must be open bidding. We’re proud of that accomplishment.”

Viti said Merit will continue fighting against card based certification.

“We will continue to argue against that process, simply because one of our core values is any employee of our Merit organizations, or any employees or any citizens of this province or country should never have a secret ballot option removed when it comes to joining a union.”

Viti said 2012 will see the increased growth of Merit Ontario to over 400 members.

The organization will also work with the provincial government to ensure continued investment in infrastructure development.