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PEGO rally outside London MTO offices in January. (CNW Group/Professional Engineers Government of Ontario)
For the first time in its 35-year history, legal strike action has been initiated by the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario (PEGO), the union representing the province of Ontario’s 600 professional engineers and land surveyors. PEGO warns that the job action is affecting key Ontario infrastructure projects, including Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass.
In a press release issued this week, the union explained that it initiated job action after 16 months of unsuccessful collective bargaining with the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). The work-to-rule campaign has now been expanded to include rotating withdrawals of service by key engineers and surveyors from some of Ontario’s highest priority infrastructure projects. Union members have also been holding rallies across the province to bring attention to some of the underlying issues they are negotiating on.
“Our focus has always been to address the root cause of Ontario’s recruitment and retention challenges for professional engineers and land surveyors,” said Nihar Bhatt, president of PEGO. “PEGO members earn much less than the wider market for professional engineers and land surveyors in Ontario.”
He explained that the members of his union design and oversee key infrastructure projects to help protect taxpayer interests, while delivering these assets efficiently and safely. PEGO says it reached out directly to Ontario premier Doug Ford and provincial officials earlier this week, in an effort to find a pathway to a settlement.
“The union and the government are actually now not that far apart on key compensation issues,” he added. “A settlement is definitely achievable, but Ontario’s Treasury Board needs to show flexibility and come to the table.”