The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Construction Council of Ontario (IBEW-CCO) has challenged the provincial government and Ontario College of Trades (OCOT) enforcement officials on two fronts.
First, IBEW members and representatives of the Electrical Contractors Association of Ottawa grilled new OCOT registrar and CEO George Gritziotis on jobsite enforcement at a Dec. 7 Organizing Conference held in Ottawa and followed that event up with a strongly worded website post.
Then, one week later, the IBEW-CCO announced it had teamed with the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario and the Ontario Pipe Trades Council on a lawsuit targeting the government’s reform of the Ontario College of Trades and Apprenticeship Act (OCTAA) in Bill 70, approved by the legislature last December.
James Barry, IBEW-CCO executive chairman and former OCOT board member, said the two strategies are distinct.
The legal challenge asks the court to “uphold sections of the (OCTAA) that require complex trade work be performed by trained and certified individuals” and is also said to be asking the court “to confirm that inspectors are required to issue a notice of contravention if exclusive compulsory work is being performed by an uncertified worker,” a media statement outlines.
The challenge has been in the works for months, Barry said, adding the reforms weaken OCOT’s core mandate and could lead to the erosion of compulsory trades in Ontario.
The challenge to OCOT inspectors, he said, focuses on what the IBEW says is a reluctance of inspectors, directed by OCOT and Ministry of Labour leadership, to go out and “do their job” following the establishment of a new OCOT compliance and enforcement (C&E) policy in June.
The IBEW website described Gritziotis as saying “I get it” repeatedly as electrical workers and allied contractors questioned him about enforcement during the early December meeting.
“The lawsuit has nothing to do with Mr. Gritziotis. That is a separate issue,” said Barry.
“It has nothing to do with the (C&E) policy. It has to do with Bill 70 schedule 17 and our utter dismay that that’s where the government went, and we’re challenging that.
“They overlap in the fact that the Ontario College of Trades is supposed to be out doing enforcement, but that lawsuit has nothing to do with OCOT.”
Asked about the lawsuit, an OCOT communications spokesperson said the College was referring questions to the Ministry of Labour. A ministry spokesperson said there would be no comment because the matter was before the courts.
Asked later about enforcement, an OCOT spokesperson wrote in an email that the new C&E policy was created after broad consultation with stakeholders including the IBEW.
“Compliance and enforcement activities are continuing as we work to successfully implement it for the benefit of the public, our members and our stakeholders,” the statement said.
Creation of a C&E policy was required in Bill 70. In the spring, Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn arranged for a mediator to meet with representatives of compulsory and non-compulsory trades to draft agreements on a range of contentious issues. Further discussions would crystallize enforcement policy in the future, Barry explained.
But the lack of finalized guidelines seems to have paralyzed OCOT, he claimed.
“We all got together and figured where the push issues are, the hot button issues around jurisdiction. The policy contemplates that and allows the inspectors to stay away from that jurisdiction stuff until the scopes of practice and all that stuff are sorted out,” he said.
“But it certainly doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be out and enforcing where there are blatant violations by people who are not registered, not licensed, doing electrical work.”
IBEW-CCO executive secretary-treasurer John Grimshaw, quoted in the statement announcing the lawsuit along with Barry, also expressed frustration over enforcement.
Barry said it’s a “difficult sell” trying to recruit new members when there is so little enforcement.
“My view is if we continue down the road we are now, compulsory trades are going to become redundant in the next 10 to 15 years and that’s not where we want to go,” he said. “That’s not where Ontario wants to go and that’s not where we want to go as an industry.”
Should ask both trades why they don’t accept new members or accept their hours from non-union companies. OCOT has done nothing to help get more tradesmen but stop other trades from doing the work they have been doing for the last 50 years safely and faster and cheaper than IBEW and plumbers. OCOT should be closed down as it does nothing to help new workers nothing.
The issues are clear and where is the required governance by the Minister, MOL and Kathleen Wynn, is there a hidden agenda that there is no longer a need for safe and properly constructed buildings and the safety for trades workers and the general public in Ontario and the loss of adhering to the Apprenticeship Legislation because it is too costly ?
There should be an inquiry and charges laid.