Former Brandon University Economics Professor, Errol Black, believes that it is wrong for Manitoba Opposition Leader, Stuart Murray, to expect that workers who will be working on the Floodway Expansion Project around Winnipeg to get "union wages and benefits without belonging to a union".

I happen to agree with Errol Black. Its not that I believe that non-union workers aren't capable of negotiating wages and benefits competitive to the level received by unionized workers. They definitely are capable. I just believe that if someone is going to benefit from the work of a union, they should belong to it.

The problem with Errol Black's argument is that opposition to Premier Doer's strategy isn't about "belonging to a union or not belonging to a union". It isn't about anything more than just getting a bunch of companies and their workers together, coordinate their efforts, and make sure that the Floodway Expansion is conducted on-time and on-budget while providing Manitobans with a quality product that is worthy of the cost and of the effort.

It is irrelevant who does the work. The only things that matter is that the companies/individuals who work on the project are obeying Manitoba laws, are obeying Workplace Health and Safety Standards, and are actually capable of completing the work as assigned and for the amount negotiated.

There are essentially 2 ways for Premier Doer to coordinate the efforts of the Floodway Expansion (after the actual bidding process). The first is to have a Project Labor Agreement, an agreement that sets the jobs that are required to be done and the costs that the Provincial Treasury are willing to pay. Deviations from amounts charged or the time taken to complete the work would be handled under normal contract law. The second is to have the same Project Labor Agreement, only this time the Project Labor Agreement would have a clause ensuring that all workers belong to a union. This clause somehow, according to Doer, ensures that the project would be completed on-time and on-budget.

What people like Premier Doer and Errol Black don't get is that you don't need a union to enforce cost and project time standards. Project contracts signed with companies enforcing cost and time standards are just as enforceable as union contracts signed enforcing those same cost and time standards. Besides, if a company really wanted to "walk away from the job", it wouldn't matter if it was union or non-union, the job would still be delayed and delay costs would be incurred.

Over 75% of Manitoba's heavy construction workers are non-union (and there might be a reason for that). By adding an additional level of bureaucracy to the Floodway Expansion, and requiring these workers to become unionized, all Gary Doer has done is lie to Manitobans about the real costs that this expansion will incur. Manitoba Hydro Retained Earnings just isn't big enough to continue to pay for Premier's Doer lack of fiscal responsibility.

- D'Arcy E. Barker

E-mail: ReduceYourTaxes@barkermoney.com