In a statement released on May 16, the IBEW Construction Council of Ontario (IBEW CCO), an organization within the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) publicly endorsed Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives for Ontario’s provincial election on June 2. This endorsement was met with criticism from IBEW’s International Vice President four days later.
In their statement, IBEW CCO, underlines the Ford Government’s focus on high training standards and safety. They said this is what earned their support.
“The Doug Ford government, including Minister McNaughton, clearly understood the need for high training and safety standards to not only protect workers and the public but to ensure our critical infrastructure like hospitals and schools were built correctly,” IBEW CCO’s Executive Secretary Treasurer said in the statement,
IBEW CCO is one of a handful of unions that have endorsed Doug Ford. Other unions that have backed Ford are the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, according to an article published by the Canadian Press.
IBEW exec breaks with CCO
The high training standards under Ford’s government is not enough for the Conservatives to gain support from IBEW executives outside of the CCO. IBEW’s International Vice President, Thomas Reid, released a statement on May 20 saying that Premier Ford’s policies have harmed workers.
“The IBEW has a total of 33 Local Unions across the entire province of Ontario, with members working in construction, utilities, railroad, manufacturing, health care, marine, government, telecommunications and much more. Many of these members and their families have been negatively impacted by legislation and policy decisions the Ontario PC party made during the last four years in office,” Reid wrote in the statement.
In 2018, Doug Ford’s government introduced the Making Ontario Open for Business Act which amended the Employment Standards Act to delay the $15 minimum wage in Ontario and repeal the two paid sick days all workers were entitled to.
According to the Financial Accountability Office for Ontario’s (FAO) review of the government’s spending in the first three quarters of the 2021-2022 fiscal year, Ford spent less than planned across all sectors. Among the sectors that were hardest hit were the education sector, the health sector and the children’s and social services sector.
Reid wrote that the “attacks” on teachers and education staff, families with autistic children, minimum wage earners, healthcare workers and Ontario’s Seniors during Ford’s time as premier are not labour friendly.
IBEW CCO did not respond to rabble’s request for comment before the publication of this article.
Most labour unions rejecting Ford
While IBEW CCO is backing Ford, it seems the labour movement at large does not support the Progressive Conservatives. An op-ed written by three labour leaders asserted that most unions do not support Doug Ford.
Patty Coates of the Ontario Federation of Labour, Myles Sullivan of the United Steelworkers and David Chartrand of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers wrote an op-ed titled, “Most unions don’t support Doug Ford.”
“The suggestion by Doug Ford that unions are lining up behind him is absurd and patently untrue. We know this because our organizations represent approximately one million Ontario workers,” Coates, Sullivan and Chartrand wrote after expressing their support for the NDP.
Sullivan could not comment on other unions’ decisions to endorse Ford but he did comment on why the United Steelworkers union chose to back the Ontario New Democratic Party.
“We share common values and we have the same beliefs and one of them is improving the rights of workers and organized labour,” Sullivan said. “That is something that the Conservatives as well as the Liberals do not support, even though they try to say they do.”
Sullivan pointed to Bill 124 as another example of the Conservatives not being a labour friendly party. Bill 124 was enacted to “implement moderation measures in respect of compensation in Ontario’s public sector.” This bill limits wage increases to a one per cent per year rate.
“There has never been a reason for us to support the Conservatives,” Sullivan said. “We represent over 15 thousand university workers in Ontario… Inflation today is at 6.8 per cent yet Doug Ford implements Bill 124 where he removes the ability to freely collective bargain… How can that be fair for frontline workers in healthcare, education and post-secondary education when they’re facing 6.8 per cent inflation and they can’t collectively bargain for more than a one per cent wage increase?
Reid made it clear in his statement that how workers cast their ballot this election is important for the future of the labour movement.
Reid wrote, “This election, like every single election before it, is vital for IBEW members, their families and voters across the province to participate in and cast a ballot on election day or in the advance polls for a candidate or party that supports workers.”
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