The Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN) is calling on Metrolinx to get back on track with respect to Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs) on Greater Toronto Area transit projects.
“We would like to see Metrolinx uphold the commitment to a minimum 10 per cent equity hiring target on the four new transit projects that are about to be built,” said Rosemarie Powell, executive director of the TCBN, adding other asks include “that there is a deep community consultation process that is put in place and that community is at the table in the negotiations of the commitment and the implementation, the monitoring and the evaluation of the community benefits agreements on these projects.”
The federal government is requiring a CBA with a minimum of 10 per cent equity hiring of Black, Indigenous and racialized people on four priority transit projects which include the Ontario Line, the Scarborough Subway Extension, the Yonge North Subway Extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West Extension.
The TCBN reached out to Metrolinx asking if they could share their process for implementing CBAs on the projects coming online.
“When we looked at the (response) letter we were really taken aback,” Powell recalled. “Everything that we’ve built to date was no longer going to be part of the way Metrolinx does community benefits.”
Powell said Metrolinx recently awarded a large contract without any CBAs.
“That was very alarming,” she noted. “In their outline of what they’re going to do they removed any reference to the community engagement process that they normally do.
“There was no consultation by Metrolinx with the community in terms of the changes that they plan to do for community benefits and they already went ahead and started to hire contractors without any consultation.”
In addition there was no equity hiring requirement, claims Powell.
“The 10 per cent that we had on the Eglinton Crosstown and the Finch West LRT was not there in the letter to us. They made no reference to it,” Powell explained.
When asked for comment a Metrolinx spokesperson responded, “We have partnered with the Ministry of Labour to facilitate a pathway for local residents and youth to find employment on the four major transit projects. This will help ensure those hiring targets are met. We will continue working with the federal government and our municipal partners to make sure we get shovels in the ground and transit built for the people of this province.”
Powell stated the organization “did talk about apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are good and important.
“We want to see outreach and recruitment and preparation for Black, Indigenous and racialized people to become apprentices not just talking generally about apprenticeships.”
On previous projects, Metrolinx also had a community benefits working group.
“All the stakeholders come together on a quarterly basis to give progress reports, to problem solve issues and that was also removed from the process,” Powell claimed.
“One of the things that was also an established practice was that the community would get an opportunity to stand in front of the bidders on the project and present what the local community was looking for in terms of the community benefits commitment.”
Powell said the TCBN wanted to make sure the community was aware Metrolinx was changing its community benefits approach and that’s why they shared their concerns.
She said the TCBN also wants to ensure the challenges around racism and discriminatory practices on jobsites are addressed. She pointed out that nooses were found on Eglinton Crosstown sites in the past.
“We want to make sure there are policies and procedures in place that are proactive, that will address anti-Black racism, that will address systemic racism and that when people from underrepresented groups, Black and racialized communities complain about these things that they are taken seriously and that there is a process that is going to be in place to investigate and to correct the situation,” Powell stated.
The TCBN recently issued a call to action to bring attention to the issue and urged those involved to rectify the situation.
“We want to make sure that there is a co-ordinated approach … that all three levels of government are co-ordinated to ensure that the commitments for Community Benefits Agreements get upheld,” Powell said.
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