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An agreement between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA) and the City of Hamilton gives the union exclusive rights to the city’s residential and heavy construction work.
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America
Opinions differ on how future Hamilton construction projects will be affected by a recently minted agreement between the carpenters’ union and the city.
“Our main concern is carpentry and carpentry-related work,” says Barry Walker, head of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBCJA), Local 18. “There is a lot of smoke and mirrors when people talk about this issue.”
Hamilton city council recently approved the agreement it reached with the carpenters’ union. Through this agreement, the union now has exclusive rights to Hamilton’s residential and heavy construction work, such as roads and bridges. The union will also screen all city tenders to see if they involve carpentry-related work, explains Walker.
The Labourers’ International Union of North America Local (LIUNA) Local 837 says the agreement will be disastrous for all involved.
“It is a bad deal for the city, the industry and the taxpayer,” said Manuel Bastos, business manager of LIUNA Local 837. “They are throwing the industry into complete chaos.”
The battle over Steeltown’s municipal work started three years ago when two carpenters employed by the city voted to certify.
The union’s notice of intent to the city went unnoticed by city staff. When the Ontario Labour Relations Board convened on September 12, 2005 to hear the carpenters’ union request, no one from the city appeared.
The Board granted the workers’ request and the carpenters’ union earned exclusive rights to Hamilton’s construction work.
A City of Hamilton staff report last summer estimated that being linked to one exclusive union could cost Hamilton an additional $10 million on standard capital projects. Staff estimated that Hamilton could also face increases between $440 million to $1.1 billion over the next eight years for its water and wastewater projects. The report also noted that Hamilton has 260 large construction contractors it generally deals with and only 17 are UBCJA affiliated.
Local 18 suggested to city officials, at a meeting last year, that they did not have enough information regarding escalating costs due to certification.
Walker says thanks to the agreement reached between his union and the city, Hamilton municipal coffers and taxpayers will actually see benefits. The agreement is about protecting carpentry-related work and not claiming the work of electricians and plumbers, he says.
“There are a number of players the city has never been aware of,” says Walker.
“This will allow the city to find the most competitive price.”
Bastos says the settlement will in fact drive costs higher for the city, because the carpenters union does not have the contractors to do the work it has rights to. He also takes issues with claims that the city’s deal with Local 18 breaks LIUNA’s “monopoly” on municipal work.
“We have organized extensively in areas like the roads,” says Bastos. “If we had a monopoly, it was through organizing and not by an agreement.”
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