Two years ago when the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) warned the forced unionization pact for floodway workers would drive up costs for taxpayers, Premier Doer rebuffed the suggestion as fear mongering.

Unfortunately, it has now been confirmed the original cost of $660 million for Manitoba's largest capital project is now hovering around the $800 million mark - a 22 percent increase. The Doer government is blaming higher fuel and insurance costs for the overruns and insists it has nothing to do with the master labour agreement.

Industry experts disagree.

Onerous requirements from the complex labour agreement with inflated wages and benefits packages are the real culprit for such a dramatic increase in the project's costs.
Regardless of what a company working on the project would normally pay their staff, they are working on a government project, they are now required to pay what is set out in the labour agreement. Further, whether workers are unionized or not, they have to pay union dues.

As was noted in the Winnipeg Sun earlier this week, "many companies are not bidding on the work because they don't need the headache. To work on this project, you have to meet hiring quotas. At least 20 percent of the crew must be either women, members of an ethnic minority or disabled."

Even for the companies that have decided to bid on floodway contracts, a logistical nightmare follows. For example, it is up to the government to approve the size and make-up of the crew; if a company wants to hire more people the first hire has to be a card-carrying union member, the second hire has to be from the government sanctioned employment equity pool, the third from a generic pool of floodway workers.

But it gets worse. Ten percent - approximately $66 million of the floodway contracts have gone untendered.

The decision by the NDP government to implement a labour agreement was nothing more than a political one. It does not comport with the principles of good governance. Manitobans on average give up almost half of their paycheques to government with the specific purpose of providing high quality and cost effective public services and infrastructure. A labour agreement is at odds with this imperative.

Most Manitobans are acutely aware of Premier Doer's roots and his sense of loyalty to his brothers and sisters in the unions which he used to represent. However, once elected premier, it's his responsibility to ensure that taxpayers in Manitoba, those whom he represents now, get the best bang for their buck.

The NDP government's union requirement for this project, now has the potential to bring about instability in the province's labour force with private companies pulling up stakes and moving to jurisdictions where they can actually compete for contracts without the stringent guideline to organize.

The floodway project amounts to a big headache and a friendship between the NDP and Big Labour that is becoming increasingly costly for taxpayers.