Item - 2019.EP4.1

The Board of Governors of Exhibition Place:

1.  Took no action, thereby confirming the Board of Governors of Exhibition Place is a non-construction employer effective the day subsections 127 (1) to (4) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 comes into force.

2.  Directed the Chief Executive Officer, should the Board of Governors of Exhibition Place become a non-construction employer by operation of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 and through the Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act, 2019, Schedule 9, to engage with the Union partners with whom Exhibition Place has local collective agreements to determine what, if any, work opportunities may be affected by becoming a non-construction employer and what, if any, of these work opportunities may be performed by staff effectively under the local collective agreements.

3.  Directed that the confidential information contained in Confidential Attachment 1 to the report (June 17, 2019) from the Chief Executive Officer, Exhibition Place remain confidential in its entirety, as it pertains to labour relations and potential litigation that affects Exhibition Place.

The Manager, Employee and Labour Relations gave an overview of Schedule 9, Changes to the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

On April 2, 2019, Restoring Ontario's Competitiveness Act, 2019 (the Act), passed 3rd reading and received Royal Assent on April 3, 2019.

This report provides an overview of the changes made to the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (the LRA) by Schedule 9 of the Act and provides an analysis of the anticipated effects on Exhibition Place.

Schedule 9 amends Section 127(1) of the LRA to explicitly deem public bodies, including municipalities, school boards, hospitals, colleges, universities and local boards, within the meaning of the Municipal Act, 2001 and the City of Toronto Act, 2006, as non-construction employers. Exhibition Place is a Local Board under the City of Toronto Act, 2006.

The Act includes a provision to allow municipalities to opt out of being a non-construction employer within three (3) months from April 3, 2019.

Exhibition Place is bound to five (5) province-wide collective agreements in the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) sector of the construction industry.  

Exhibition Place has publicly indicated that it is bound by the City's Fair Wage Policy in all sectors through the purchasing process. 

As a result, Exhibition Place has until July 3, 2019 to decide if it will choose to opt-out and remain a construction employer. This authority to opt-out requires a Board decision. If Exhibition Place does nothing, it will by default become a non-construction employer.

Once the Board's decision is filed with the Provincial Minister of Labour in writing, the election is irrevocable and should Exhibition Place wish, at a later date, to be a non-construction employer, it must make application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) under the currently existing definition of non-construction employer in the LRA, which is a high threshold.

The City is considering this same decision with respect to the City unions, however, the Board is required to make its own determination about the status of Exhibition Place as a construction employer.

It is important to note that should Exhibition Place become a non-construction employer the local collective agreements with the same 5 trade unions will remain in force.