So long, Serco

British recreation services multinational Serco Facilities Management Inc. is corporation non grata in Ingersoll, Ontario and Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

In both cases, Serco rode into town to take over from the bankrupt private operator Recreation Services International (RSI). In Ingersoll, this was the second bankruptcy, following that of Contemporary Leisure Canada. Refusing to learn their lesson, both towns transferred their contracts to Serco instead of bringing them back in house. In both cases, the decision to contract out recreation services was done behind closed doors with no public consultation.

"The public never wanted our recreational services out of public hands," says Weyburn city worker Greg Button, president of CUPE 90. "City council just didn’t want to deal with rec services. It was an undemocratic decision."

"The private contractors they brought in had no more experience in running recreation services. And the services suffered. Staff was cut through attrition and user fees went up. Our free skates and free swims no longer exist — you have to pay admission. And ice time for minor hockey went from $22 an hour to $34."

It’s a similar story in Ingersoll. A secretly-negotiatated contract brought in unqualified managers, constant upheaval and lost jobs.

"We dealt with phantom managers. The cast of characters changed constantly, so we never knew who we were dealing with," says Doug Wheeler, president of CUPE 107.

"They didn’t hire people who could run things like an aquatics centre. From day one there was no increase in service levels. Instead, they didn’t fill four jobs," says Wheeler.

When it came to negotiating a new collective agreement with RSI, labour relations hit a new low. RSI hired a consultant who called himself a "hired gun" and pledged to tear up the workers’ collective agreement in front of them. RSI tabled a list of more than 40 concessions including major cuts to the pension plan.

The corporation’s hard line forced Ingersoll workers out on a four-week strike in late 1996. During mediation, the workers discovered their pension funds were missing. Town council put pressure on RSI, and the funds were handed to the town, to be held in trust. Several months later, after failing to make the workers’ first post-strike payroll, RSI went bankrupt.

But RSI’s failure didn’t stop the quest to contract out. "Weyburn handed the rec services to Serco, even though in the end the contract cost more than if the city had done it itself. And Serco didn’t want to do things like pay for upkeep and maintenance," says Button.

"When people in Ingersoll found out there’d been another backroom deal with no public input, they were screaming. They’d seen how bad contracting out was. Council took a lot of heat," says Wheeler.

In 1999, things started to unravel for Serco. In Weyburn, Serco was a major issue in the civic election. The newly-elected council decided to return control of the city’s swimming pools, rinks and other recreation facilities to the public sector.

And in Ingersoll, attempts by Serco to raise user fees as part of their renewed contract were met with opposition on town council. So Serco announced it wasn’t renewing its contract. Services reverted to public hands in January 2000. Serco isn’t out of the woods yet. The corporation has yet to settle outstanding grievances about its handling of the employees’ pension plan.

However, residents in both towns can look forward to publicly run pools, rinks and parks. "Those private sector employers are just faceless names in the night now," says Wheeler. "The town can see the real value of the workers. They took on the hard issues and they won."