Bill 73 seeks open tendering fairness.

• Position: NEWS

A private member's bill is proposing changes to the tendering process for the construction of publicly funded infrastructure, which currently requires municipalities to tender the work out to unionized contractors.

"For more than three decades, certain unions have been able to exploit a loophole in Ontario's labour laws that allows them to force municipalities to contract out work on large infrastructure projects to companies only they represent," said Michael Harris, MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga, in a news release.

"This unfair labour practice prevents roughly 70 per cent of qualified contractors from working on our bridges, water treatment facilities and public buildings--just because they don't hold the right union card or have chosen not to hold one at all."

Sault Ste. Marie is among the municipalities that have been impacted by the practice, referred to as closed tendering, along with Hamilton, Kitchener, and Toronto. Harris said the Labour Relations Act fails to clearly define the role of public-sector employers.

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In the absence of a clear definition, the Ontario labour board allows certain unions to certify municipalities and school boards under collective-bargaining rules that were designed and only intended to apply to construction companies operating in the private sector, he said. "In this day and age, it...