Hamilton confirms move to open tendering on ICI jobs

HAMILTON – Hamilton city council voted last night (June 26) to endorse last week’s decision by its general committee to end its status as a construction employer and move into an era of open tendering on ICI projects.

The decision means the city is no longer bound to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for all carpentry work on ICI jobs.

The council vote was 12-2 with only Councillors Nrinder Nann and Tom Jackson supporting the status quo.

Hamilton had been bound to the Carpenters’ for its ICI projects since 2005.

Council was considering a staff recommendation that the city take no action to opt out of provisions in Bill 66, which rescinded the status of Hamilton and other public governing bodies as construction employers. The governments had three months from April 3, when the bill received royal assent, to opt out of the Bill 66 construction-employer measures.

Hamilton joins Sault Ste. Marie and the Region of Waterloo as municipalities that are becoming non-construction employers, opening up bidding on ICI work. The Toronto District School Board is scheduled to vote on the matter July 2.

Only the City of Toronto, among the province’s largest municipal employers, has decided it will remain a construction employer as defined by the Labour Relations Act, having voted June 19 to opt out and thus retain its collective agreements with nine existing signatories and also add the Labourers’ International Union of North America to the roster.