MHCA asks that utility locates be deemed ‘essential service’
The provision of utility locate services should be deemed essential, ensuring they would continue undisrupted in the event of labour action or other extraordinary conditions, MHCA says.
The request for discussions regarding the essential nature of utility locate services was made in a letter the MHCA, with other construction associations, sent to Finance Minister Cliff Cullen, who is also responsible for Manitoba Hydro, and in a letter to Jay Grewal, President & CEO of Manitoba Hydro.
“Location of underground utilities is an essential service to the construction industry. Our work – housing development, ICI construction or heavy civil construction of highways, bridges, water-related infrastructure – simply cannot proceed until utility locates are provided,” said the July 19 letter to Cullen from MHCA, the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba, Manitoba Home Builders’ Association and Winnipeg Construction Association.
The letter explains that the inability to proceed with work “puts contractors in legal/contractual jeopardy, displaces employment for those in and supporting construction and obstructs the provision of infrastructure services to the general public and property owners.”
Delay or disruption to locates poses a safety hazard for construction crews and the public and negatively impacts the economy.
Given those considerations, “we ask that the provision of locate services by all utility owners be deemed an essential service, resulting in the necessary contingencies to prevent disruption and resulting risk in the event of a strike or other occurrence.”
The associations asked for a meeting with Cullen, to discuss the issue.
The construction industry had also requested of Manitoba Hydro President Jay Grewal confirmation of the corporation’s contingency plans to ensure that the locate services and resources at Hydro would continue, in the event of a strike.
A strike that could have started July 21 at Manitoba Hydro was fortunately averted Wednesday, when the IBEW Local 2034 and the Crown corporation reached a tentative collective agreement, with the union. The IBEW local includes employees who provide locate services.
“We are relieved that a potential strike has been averted, at least for the time being, and that Hydro is attentive to the critical need for locate services,” MHCA President & CEO Chris Lorenc said.
“We will pursue discussions at the provincial level to protect utility locates as an essential service, so avoiding any disruption is a primary concern of all utility owners.”
