Five Good Ideas for building community-labour relations

Five Good Ideas Podcast

In this session, originally recorded on November 25, 2021, we asked Rosemarie Powell, Executive Director of the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN), to share five good ideas about the lessons she has learned as the leader of a community-labour coalition charged with implementing community benefits agreements.

Local communities want the workforce building public infrastructure to reflect the demographics of their neighbourhoods and for the accrued economic benefits to be shared more equitably. Construction unions also recognize community benefits as an opportunity to increase diversity and inclusion in their workforce. If the goals and values are shared, how can the promise of community benefits be fulfilled?

In this Five Good Ideas session, Rosemarie Powell shares the lessons she has learned as the leader of a community-labour coalition charged with implementing community benefits agreements. She has worked on some of the city’s largest public infrastructure projects, including the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, Finch West LRT, Casino Woodbine, and the West Park Healthcare Centre.

Rosemarie tells the story of how TCBN created a foundation for success by building an allied coalition. She takes us through their journey of building trust, revealing some of the systems and processes they used to hold each side accountable while recognizing and celebrating progress along the way.

Five Good Ideas

1. Co-create the foundation for success

2. Cultivate a coalition of champions and allies

3. Build and preserve trust while working through challenges

4. Maintain a clear definition of success and verify outcomes

5. Recognize and celebrate milestones and progress

Resources

• Community Benefits: Annual Report 2020
• NexGen Builders Mentoring Program
• Building Diversity Awards and Recognition Program
• Community Benefits YouTube Channel
• YouTube video: NexGen Builders Mentoring Program
• OCS Demographics & Diversity: A Portrait of Ontario’s Unionized Construction Industry
• OCS Community Benefits Report

About Rosemarie Powell

Rosemarie Powell is a passionate advocate for social, economic, and environmental justice. She has led for over 20 years from the grassroots up, managing and developing several innovative and impactful community programs and services to support historically disadvantaged communities and equity seeking groups’ access to the labour market and the economy. Her community engagement work in Jane and Finch earned several awards for leadership and imagination. Currently, Rosemarie is the Executive Director of the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN).

TCBN is a community/labour coalition of 120 member organizations and groups which successfully initiated Community Benefits Agreements for the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT transit projects, West Park Healthcare Centre, and Rexdale Casino Woodbine.