LiUNA, operating engineers call for consistent infrastructure funding
The Labourers International Union of North America (LiUNA) and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) have written a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling on the federal government to keep the supply of municipal infrastructure flowing.
In the letter, LiUNA International Vice President and Central & Eastern Canada Regional Manager Joseph Mancinelli and IUOE Canadian Regional Director Lionel Railton say that while federal and provincial money that is being directed to large-scale infrastructure projects is a benefit to some, investments can actually have a great impact—for contractors as well as municipalities—when directed to smaller projects.
“Not all shovel-ready and shovel-worthy stimulus projects need to be large infrastructure investments,” says the letter. “It is often the small- and medium- sized projects, such as road surfacing and bridge work, which neighbourhoods use daily and expect to be safe and reliable.”
Part of the concern for the organizations, and for contractors in and around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) in particular, is that smaller and medium-sized infrastructure projects are being cancelled as municipal governments scramble to balance their books because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Toronto and Area Road Builders Association, the Heavy Contractors Association of Toronto, and the Greater Toronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association say they have seen a consistent decline in the number of capital works projects being tendered across the GTHA over the past three months.
They worry those cancellations could have the long-term effect of disrupting their members’ operations.
“Consistent tendering of public works throughout the construction season is critical to the sustainability of our member companies,” say the associations in a letter to LiUNA. “The delays we are experiencing in the tendering of planned projects this year due to COVID-19 is creating a significant disruption in the market, with many of our member companies believing they may have to start seasonal layoffs much earlier in the year due to a lack of work.”
Indeed, the associations that that their members usually need eight weeks from the time a project is tendered to the time shovels first reach the ground. That time is needed for contractors to make and submit bids, for municipalities to evaluate bids and award the job, and for the successful contractor to mobilize to the job site.
Further delays to capital tenders at this late-stage of the year could mean that GTHA road and heavy civil contractors could be forced to delay project starts into the spring as a way of avoiding disruptions due to the annual winter shut down.
“Without further investment immediately, and the release of construction tenders that were already integrated into current municipal budgets for 2020, our members expect to reluctantly begin seasonal layoffs in the fall,” say the associations. “This is particularly discouraging given our sectors worked throughout the COVID-related economic shutdowns in the spring but are now being forced to shut down due to a lack of work right as the government support programs for workers are set to conclude.”
To address such concerns, LiUNA is asking the federal and provincial government to require that the Safe Restart Agreement, that was announced in July, require municipalities to continue to fund their capital works for the remainder of the 2020–21 fiscal year in order to remain eligible for capital relief.
The agreement will provide more than $19 billion to provinces and territories, including more than $7 billion in funding and in-kind supports to Ontario. Of that figure, $2 billion will be used to relieve municipal financial pressures created by COVID-19, and $2 billion allocated for public transit.