Dear Premier Horgan,
RE: COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENT (CBA)
The new CBA is the latest and most destructive item in a growing catalog of urgent issues concerning BC’s industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction employers.
I am one of those employers. The CBA is a disincentive for my company to bid on government projects. Here’s why:
Unions have a role to play, and are right for some, but not all. Although your government claims to prioritize community engagement and public discourse, this major decision came without either: 80% of our industry was not represented during the creation of this policy.
The result is not a Community Benefit Agreement but a labour agreement which undermines the role of employers – both union and open-shop – in order to artificially bolster the power of a select few.
In the fall our MPs will vote on Bill C-344 (An Act to amend the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act (Community Benefits)) which is defended by similar false assumptions: that construction employers do not proactively support communities, apprenticeship, training, safety, or equity seeking groups. I urge my MP, cc’d here, to vote against Bill C-344.
If the CBA announced by BC’s NDP government on July 16, 2018 moves forward, my industry will do everything in its power to reverse it.
This is not the kind of innovation that BC needs to compete and succeed in Canada or the world. Please, move forward instead with initiatives that are productive for the long term success of our industry and our provincial economy.
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizen
British Columbia
CC: Your provincial and federal representatives
This campaign is sponsored by: BC Construction Association, CCA, NRCA, SICA, VICA, and VRCA.
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