March 15, 2010

Open letter | Burnaby’s fair wage policy

‘Quality product cannot come from cutting corners on safety’

The following letter was sent to Burnaby, British Columbia mayor Derek Corrigan in response to his comments in a story in the March 10 Journal of Commerce on the municipality’s fair wage policy:

Dear Mayor Corrigan:

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for delivering a clear and effective message regarding the City of Burnaby’s fair wage tendering process.

While Philip Hochstein continues a venomous attack on workers in British Columbia, it was refreshing to see the city’s common-sense rebuttal in print.

We all know the problems associated with the straight low bid process and you characterized many of them very well.

A quality product cannot come from cutting corners on safety, using the cheapest materials, designing the cheapest structure, or paying workers as little as possible.

Reputable contractors want a bid process that eliminates these “low quality” ingredients and maintains competition in the skills of the contractor group.

Meanwhile, taxpayers want to see value and longevity in the projects they are paying for. The process used by the City of Burnaby is the best way to meet those objectives.

Without doubt, being ranked the best-run city in Canada gives you stronger credibility than Mr. Hochstein's ongoing nonsensical rhetoric on the virtues of low bid.

We can only hope that the city’s vision gets traction in other parts of British Columbia.

Brian Cochrane, assistant business manager

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115

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