May 27, 2008

Labour Unions

“Building America” initiative doesn’t fit Canadian LIUNA approach

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

LIUNA’s “Building America” initiative to help drive infrastructure investment south of the border is a bold move but not one that fits the Canadian lobbying landscape, explains a Canadian labour union official.

“Our needs in Canada are similar to those in the United States but our methods are different,” explained Joseph Mancinelli, international vice-president and central and eastern Canada regional manager for the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).

“It (Building America) is an interesting concept, but lobbying government and how to exercise your influence is very different in Canada.”

Building America aims to be “the most intensive and sustained effort ever to redirect the nation’s resources” to draw attention and investment to America’s roadways, bridges, dams, railways and schoolhouses. The initiative was recently unveiled at the America 2050 Symposium in Washington, D.C. by Terence O’Sullivan, general president for LIUNA.

“We are the nation that first put a man on the moon, built the original first-class interstate highway system, accomplished engineering feats such as the Hoover Dam and urban transit systems that move millions and left the world in awe of what we can do,” said O’Sullivan.

“We can reach those heights again and the men and women who build America are eager to do it.”

Among Building America’s various elements are an extensive advertising campaign, a massive member-to-member voter registration effort, a Web site dedicated to Building America and a petition to collect a million signatures “telling Congress and the country’s next president to build America so America works”.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) estimates America’s infrastructure repair and maintenance bill has hit US$1.6 trillion. There is a US$50 billion a year deficit in highways maintenance alone, according to the ASCE. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities pegs the municipal infrastructure deficit in Canada at $123 billion just to repair and replace aging bridges, highways and wastewater systems.

“We feel the federal government should be putting more into transportation infrastructure — they have procrastinated and now it is even more expensive to not only improve but catch up,” said Mancinelli.

How LIUNA in Canada expresses these concerns is best served through its various Canadian locals, said Mancinelli. Communication is much more direct and overall, the political landscape is just different in Canada, he said.

“In Ontario, for instance, we are very active with the provincial and federal governments,” said Mancinelli.

“Also, we have been leveraging the strength of our pension-plan dollars in initiatives like our consortiums with companies like EllisDon on hospitals.”

Getting Infrastructure Ontario to start looking at transportation projects such as bridges and highways is the next step on the provincial agenda for LIUNA.

“They need to start opening up to that so consortiums can begin to come together and put forward what they can do,” said Mancinelli.

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