Region to review impact of carpenters’ union on construction bids

WATERLOO REGION — The first joint-venture regional construction project under an agreement with the carpenters' union was awarded Wednesday at a cost of about $120 million.

Glenn Roach, director of employee relations, said as part of the certification agreement the region pushed to allow joint ventures for projects that cost more than $20 million.

"This increases the number of contractors that would be able to bid on a regional project such as this," Roach said.

Joint ventures are allowed, provided one of the partners is unionized, he said.

The Region of Waterloo was certified July 4 by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 785 after nearly two years of labour board hearings.

The process was kicked off when two employees signed union cards after building a garden shed on a Saturday afternoon.

Ultimately one vote in favour sealed the deal.

Now only unionized carpenters can work on municipal construction projects.

Prior to certification, some politicians and others in the construction business said the region would have less competitive bids on projects and see more expensive bids if it was certified by the union.

Regional Chair Ken Seiling said there are plans to review whether the union certification is impacting construction project bids.

"At some point in time over the next little while, we'll sit down and take a look at all of our tenders since we started and see what we see, if we see anything," Seiling said.

Roach said it's difficult to track such a thing.

"In order to determine if an agreement signed with the carpenters is more expensive than an agreement signed without the carpenters, you have to have both people able to bid on the project to see for that particular project how their cost structure changes," Roach said.

The $120-million contract awarded Wednesday was for work at the Kitchener wastewater treatment plant and was on budget, according to a staff report.

It was the first time a joint contract between unionized and non-unionized workers since certification and went to Graham Construction and Engineering LP and Harbridge and Cross Limited in compliance with a joint venture agreement between the region, carpenters and the Grand Valley Construction Association.

The bid was one of three. Both of the other bids were joint ventures, with the most expensive coming in at $140 million — about $15 million more than the region's budget for the work.

Seiling said negotiations continue to complete the final agreement with the union.

Source: The Record