The MHCA has thanked the City of Winnipeg administration for its commitment to stop piloting social procurement clauses that require the industry to track the employment hours worked on projects by those who identify with ‘equity’ groups.
In a memo submitted, with Winnipeg Construction Association, to the City’s sustainable procurement leaders, the MHCA notes it is grateful Winnipeg acknowledged logistical and practical challenges of tracking on a project basis.
“We have said from the outset that contractors are very concerned about the logistical challenges of such tracking and reporting, but also that, on a project-by-project basis, this would jeopardize the confidentiality of the self-identification of workers,” MHCA President & CEO Chris Lorenc said.
The City piloted clauses in construction project contracts to test its proposed sustainable procurement plans. The construction project award winners were required to track the hours worked by employees who self-identified as belonging to an ‘equity’ group, such as Indigenous, racialized, persons of colour, women, LGBTQI2S+ and those facing poverty. Identification was tracked by way of a voluntary, self-declaration form.
“At a project level, there was real concern this confidential information would be known to persons beyond human resources managers, which is unfair and potentially a breach of a worker’s right to privacy,” Lorenc said.
Contractors reported that substantial percentages of employees who were given the voluntary, self-ID forms refused to fill them out.
“Without that baseline information, getting good data on diversity of workforce and then trying to extrapolate any progress on employment of equity individuals is near impossible.”
The MHCA/WCA submission reiterated concerns about a prescriptive, project-based approach to social procurement, recommending the City’s approach be shifted to encouraging and tracking such measures on a company-wide basis.
