Horwath, NDP to keep fighting Bill 74

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath (pictured) delivered a speech Saturday morning to the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, gathered for a two-day conference at the Delta Sault Ste. Marie Waterfront Hotel.

Her speech focused on labour concerns regarding Bill 74.

Horwath's NDP and unionized labour say the bill, put forward by Progressive Conservative MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent Middlesex), and due to come up for third reading in the Ontario Legislature before November 5, is tailor-made for construction company EllisDon.

New Democrats say the bill, if passed, would allow EllisDon to step away from long-standing collective agreements.

Both the governing Liberals and Progressive Conservatives support the bill, while the NDP opposes it.

Horwath told SooToday.com: "This bill would give one single construction company in the province of Ontario the ability to ignore historic collective agreements it's had with its workers."

"That's something that is just not done, it's not the way labour relations work in Ontario, and in fact the thing that's disturbing about it is that EllisDon happens to be a big financial contributor to both the Liberals and the Conservatives."

Horwath said the company's support for the two parties has enabled the bill to get as far as it has in the Legislature.

"It takes away the company's obligation to honour its collective agreements, but you deal with that at the bargaining table, you don't deal with it by trying to ram legislation through the Legislature in Toronto."

"We've seen the chaos that kind of legislation creates with Bill 115," Horwath said.

Bill 115, passed in 2012, cleared the way for the government to head off strikes and imposed wage freezes on teachers.

Horwath said Bill 74, if passed, would lead to EllisDon attempting to hire less skilled workers and sidestep its dealings with unionized tradespeople.

"New Democrats are standing firm and I've made sure the tradespeople here today know that when it comes to third reading of this bill we will not support it."

""They (tradespeople) have a key and important role in Ontario's economy, and I'm here today to let them know New Democrats will do everything we can to put pressure on the government and have them back away on Bill 74," Horwath said.