Manitoba’s construction industry is eager to provide feedback on a potential overhaul of the Construction Industry Wages Act (CIWA).
The Act sets mandatory minimum wages for dozens of occupations, and spells out working conditions, holiday pay, and overtime for the sector.
Finance Minister Scott Fielding sent shockwaves through the industry days before Christmas when he indicated in a letter to stakeholders the province would like to repeal the Act.
“Manitoba’s framework is unique in Canada and has been criticised (sic) as confusing,” the briefing reads, adding “it’s not clear what the benefits of CIWA are.”
The letter invited several stakeholders to a meeting with provincial representatives on Jan. 7 to review the Act and make recommendations.
“We know very little about this,” said Ron Hambley, president of the Winnipeg Construction Association.
“(The Act) is a bit dated in terms of its regulation, but I don’t think we’re prepared to agree to its repeal at this point in time.”
Hambley says the Act is only effective as long as it is regularly updated, which he admits hasn’t happened since about 2014.
The Act has prevented parties and individuals from driving down wages, Hambley says, is regularly used as a reference point for setting wages or for unions in consultations and bargaining, and the pay schedules sometimes entice people to enter the industry.
However, Fielding’s briefing says the framework needs to to be simplified.
It says without the Act, market forces and collective bargaining could determine wages, while the Employment Standards Code would, with some adjustments, ensure proper employment standards.
After sending out the proposal, Fielding took the rare step of addressing concerns on his Twitter account.
In an email response to questions, a spokesperson for the minister’s office emphasized, “the goal of this consultation is not to lower construction industry wages, but to simply Manitoba’s framework for construction wages and improve rules that can be unclear or confusing.
“Over the years, there has been considerable debate on the design and value of this legislation, with a range of views among industry stakeholders.”
Sudhir Sandhu, CEO of Manitoba Building Trades, says there was quite a bit of shock and surprise when the letters were first sent out, but he attributes that to some misunderstanding on both sides.
“The briefing document makes reference to confusion and unwieldly legislation; that’s clearly not the case, and that’s been communicated very, very unequivocally to government,” Sandhu says.
“I think this will be the start of a productive conversation towards improving legislation, rather than the initial thought that it was just an appeal.”
From the outside looking in, the Act may seem confusing, Sandhu says, but in practice functions quite well.
“You could make the argument that it doesn’t exist in other provinces and they seem to function rather well, but that said, we’ve had good experiences with the act, particularly when it’s up to date,” Hambley says.
“It has had a very positive impact on the construction industry in this province.”
Hambley says his group isn’t prepared at this point to support a repeal, and would instead like to see the existing Act updated.
“I think ideally it would accurately reflect a schedule of minimum rates that are paid in the industry today.”
The parties will be meeting Thursday, Jan. 7, to chart a course forward.