Here’s something to celebrate this Labour Day: the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act is repealed. Don’t take our word for it. Those same concise 10 words, contained in the Harper government’s massive 425-page omnibus budget bill, put a quick, well-deserved end to a meddlesome relic of nanny-state legislation that dates back to the 1930s.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has taken the Conservatives to task in recent weeks for their failure to tackle Ottawa’s burgeoning payroll costs, as well as their plans to raise federal spending by $19 billion between now and the next election.
But we believe in giving credit where credit is due: for cutting unnecessary, costly red tape and for saying yes to truly competitive bidding on federal construction projects. Both of these laudable objectives were achieved when the Tories tossed the federal fair wages act into the trash can.
Now, the feds will be actually able to award construction contracts to – get this – the lowest bidder!
Previously, under the now dead-and-gone fair wages law, if you wanted to bid for federal work, you needed to consult pages of tables on the government web site, to ensure you were paying your crew what the government told you to pay them. For example, roofers on a project in Winnipeg were guaranteed $23.15 an hour while roofers on a project in Brandon were guaranteed $20.84. What could be fairer than that?
Beyond the obvious lunacy of forcing employers, by law, to pay considerably different wages, sometimes in neighbouring postal codes, for exactly the same work, the fair wages act also came with pages of regulations.
For example, contractors were required “to keep books and records showing the names, addresses, classifications of employment and work of all workers employed under a contract and the rate of wages to be paid, wages paid and daily hours worked by the workers; and permit, at all reasonable times, an inspector to inspect their books, records, and premises; and…,” well, you get the idea.
Despite the pages full of federal regulations, wages and hours of work are overwhelmingly regulated by the provinces, as federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt pointed out in the parliamentary debate. The text of the now-defunct federal regulations refer in seven places to simply following provincial rules, rules that have always applied to construction work and continue to apply.
But traditional supporters of big government and high-priced construction contracts did attempt some equally laughable arguments to keep the fair wages law on life support. “How are we going to attract bright, young men and women into the building trades,” railed Pat Martin, NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre during the parliamentary debate. “If the normal wage is now going to be $8, $9 or $10 an hour instead of the $20 or $30 that it is now? Try feeding a family on $8, $9 or $10 an hour.”
With the fair wage law fading into the pages of history – and despite Pat Martin’s dire predictions – only four of the 250 trades, transport and construction jobs the Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently reviewed in the Service Canada Job Bank for Winnipeg even started in the range he described: – three started at $10 (and those ranged up to $16), while one, a pizza-delivery gig presumably brings tip income along with it. Employers were seeking a roofer at $25 to $29 an hour (start as soon as possible)welders at $18 to $26 an hour, kitchen installers at $20 to $24 an hour, a framer at $12 to $16 an hour, and a second-class power engineer at $34 to $36 an hour, along with 238 other hard-working Winnipeggers.
There’s a wide range of money offered, depending on how many hours you’re willing to work, at what time of day, and what skills and experience you bring to the job site.
Oddly enough, nobody seems to need the federal government’s guidance on what’s fair.
And that seems fair enough to us.
Gregory Thomas, Federal and Ontario Director
