Open Letter: Setting the Record Straight on the Manitoba Jobs Agreement
To: Members of the Progressive Conservative Caucus, Manitoba Construction Industry Associations, and Industry Stakeholders
We are writing in response to the recent public campaigns, petitions and related calls to repeal the Manitoba Jobs Agreement (MJA).
Manitoba Building Trades supports legitimate discussion and debate around procurement policy, infrastructure delivery, and workforce development. There are valid conversations to be had about implementation, administration, and project delivery, and we have raised implementation concerns ourselves directly with government where appropriate.
However, there is an increasing difference between constructive policy discussion and rhetoric that fundamentally misrepresents Manitoba’s construction industry, its workforce, and the contractors who operate successfully within collectively bargained systems every day.
Recent public claims that the Manitoba Jobs Agreement imposes a “20% tax” on projects, shuts out Manitoba workers, eliminates competition, or is already causing projects to be cancelled or delayed are serious allegations. They are also unsubstantiated.
No project-by-project financial analysis has been publicly released. No methodology has been provided. No comparative procurement review has been made available to industry or taxpayers.
At present, the figure appears to function more as a political slogan than a credible economic analysis.
Construction pricing is influenced by numerous factors, including material costs, financing and interest rates, supply chain volatility, project design, market capacity, labour availability, scheduling pressures, and contractor risk assumptions. To isolate the Manitoba Jobs Agreement as the source of a broad “20% increase” without transparent evidence is misleading and irresponsible.
Equally concerning are claims that Manitoba workers are somehow being “shut out” of public infrastructure projects.
That claim is simply not grounded in reality.
The Manitoba Jobs Agreement does not prohibit Manitoba workers from participating on projects. Contractors are able to bring their existing workforce, and Manitobans – union and non-union alike – are working on these projects today.
The only circumstance currently limiting participation by some contractors or workers is the coordinated decision by certain organizations to discourage or boycott participation under prevailing wage, benefit, apprenticeship, and workforce standards established within the agreement.
That is not exclusion by the Manitoba Jobs Agreement. It is a voluntary business and political decision being made by specific groups within the industry.
The MJA does not eliminate competitive bidding.
Contractors still bid competitively. Contractors still select subcontractors. Contractors still manage project execution, productivity, scheduling, safety, and their workforce. Both unionized and non-union contractors can participate on MJA projects.
What the agreement establishes are standardized project conditions around labour stability, apprenticeship participation, prevailing compensation standards, workforce communication protocols, and project-wide consistency.
That is not the elimination of competition. It is a workforce and procurement framework intended to support stable project delivery and long-term construction capacity.
Much of the current criticism also avoids a fundamental question.
If dramatically lower construction costs are the goal, where exactly are those savings expected to come from?
Construction costs are primarily driven by labour, materials, equipment, financing, scheduling pressures, and market conditions. Material pricing and interest rates are largely outside the control of Manitoba workers or contractors. That means broad promises to significantly reduce project costs inevitably place pressure somewhere else – typically on wages, benefits, apprenticeship investment, workforce standards, or labour conditions.
You cannot simultaneously:
- demand lower project costs,
- oppose prevailing wage standards,
- resist apprenticeship utilization requirements,
- criticize workforce agreements,
- and still expect the industry to attract and retain enough skilled workers to meet Manitoba’s long-term infrastructure needs.
At some point, something gives.
The Manitoba Jobs Agreement is based on the principle that publicly funded infrastructure should create public value beyond the physical asset itself. That includes training apprentices, retaining skilled workers, supporting workforce participation, and strengthening Manitoba’s long-term construction capacity.
This is not a uniquely Manitoba approach.
Governments across Canada – including conservative governments – have used project labour agreements and workforce-conditioned procurement models because they address real workforce and project delivery challenges. More importantly, national policy direction is increasingly moving toward more workforce conditions attached to public funding, not fewer.
The federal government has already embedded apprenticeship targets, prevailing wage requirements, labour standards, and workforce development conditions into major infrastructure and industrial investment policy. The national conversation is no longer simply whether a project can be financed and permitted. Increasingly, it is whether there is a workforce strategy in place to actually build it.
We are also concerned by rhetoric that portrays collectively bargained construction systems as inherently harmful or illegitimate. Those attacks do not only target unions. They also undermine the many Manitoba unionized contractors who successfully deliver complex infrastructure projects every day.
These contractors employ thousands of Manitobans, invest heavily in apprenticeship training, maintain sophisticated workforce development systems, and compete successfully across both public and private sector markets.
Unionized contractors are not outside Manitoba’s construction industry. They are a critical part of it.
Manitoba Building Trades remains committed to working constructively with government, contractors, associations, and industry stakeholders to improve implementation and ensure Manitoba infrastructure projects are delivered competitively, efficiently, and successfully.
We believe Manitoba can have:
- competitive procurement,
- strong contractor participation,
- responsible cost management,
- apprenticeship growth,
- workforce development,
- and stable labour relations at the same time.
Those goals are not mutually exclusive.