A group of senior government engineers tasked with managing and advising on key projects in Ontario have downed some of their tools in work-to-rule strike action, warning they can slow key Ford government infrastructure plans to a crawl if a deal isn’t reached.
On Tuesday morning, the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario union, which represents engineers who work on oversight and management of government projects and regulations, began its first strike action in 35 years.
The group’s members’ work includes the building code, fire codes, air quality rules, environmental requirements and managing major highway construction projects like bridges, lane expansions and brand new routes.
“What we do is fairly senior-level, specialized work,” Nihar Bhatt, president of the union representing roughly 600 people told Global News.
Among the most high-profile work his members conduct is overseeing Ontario’s entire 400-series highway network and advising on the provincial upload of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, drinking water standards and air quality rules.
The standoff comes despite the Ford government placing a heavy political emphasis on infrastructure.
From a historic subway expansion including the Ontario Line to Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass and most recently a potential tunnel under Highway 401, Bhatt acknowledged Premier Doug Ford has shown himself to be keen on building.
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He said treasury board officials negotiating with the union, on the other hand, don’t seem to be on the same page.
“Our fight is not with the government — the government is saying that infrastructure is important, the cabinet is saying this,” Bhatt said.
“But treasury board negotiators just don’t seem to get it… in our 35-year history we’ve never contemplated the concept of a strike but things have become so bad that we’re just not able to staff (positions).”
The engineers have been without a contract for more than a year, Bhatt said, and last held negotiations with the government in August. The union said it is struggling to attract and retain staff, with municipal governments and the private sector both offering better pay.
A spokesperson for treasury board said the offer tabled by the government was reasonable.
“Since July 2023, the government has held numerous bargaining sessions with the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario (PEGO) bargaining team in an effort to reach a fair deal at the negotiating table,” they told Global News.
“The government’s latest offer recognizes the specialized role of PEGO employees.”
Strike action will slow projects
The work-to-rule action beginning Tuesday won’t see members walk off the job but instead stop covering other staff’s responsibilities, helping management with jobs like recruitment or clocking off the minute a shift is over, instead of doing unpaid overtime.
The effect, Bhatt said, won’t be felt immediately but over a few weeks, he predicted some government projects will begin to slip behind schedule.
“The effect will be delays,” he said. “It may take two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, depending on where the tasks are.”
The union also has a mandate to take its strike action further.
Bhatt said he could begin removing some of his members from key projects, including Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, potentially throwing sand in the gears of projects the Ford government made central to its election promise.
“Again, we don’t want to be here, I will that, this is not our favourite thing to do,” he said. “Our favourite thing to do is to engineer and to build things.”
The union has not yet set a deadline to escalate its action and said it wants to see the treasury board return to the table with a new, improved offer instead.
The next round of mediation is set for Oct. 18.
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