Ontario government engineers to withdraw services from Highway 413, Bradford Bypass

TORONTO — A group of professional engineers plan to soon withdraw their services from key Ontario infrastructure projects Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass as part of a bargaining dispute with the province.

Members of the Professional Engineers Government of Ontario, which represents more than 600 professional engineers and land surveyors who work for the province, started a work-to-rule campaign earlier this month.

The bargaining association says members’ earnings have fallen so far behind that they sometimes earn half of what people in similar positions at municipalities make and they have been without a contract for 20 months.

Nihar Bhatt, the group’s president, says collective bargaining with the Treasury Board Secretariat is stalled.

Bhatt says that starting in the next few days, a small group of engineers will stop working on the two highway projects that are loudly championed by Premier Doug Ford.

Bhatt says the projects are in the planning and design stages and the job action could affect some major milestones that are coming up in the next few weeks.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press