FCM report urges caution on P3s
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has released a research report which asks many questions of those pushing public-private partnerships.
The report, by Université de Montréal professor Pierre J. Hamel, stops short of telling municipalities not to use P3s for infrastructure projects, but reaches some suggestive conclusions:
· There is no evidence to suggest that P3s consistently cost less or provide better services.
· Only significant, sustained public investment will meet our infrastructure needs.
· Traditional municipal financing is simple and less costly than private sector financing.
· P3s do little to solve the more pressing problem of repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructure.
Hamel’s report also warns that municipalities that rely on P3s can lose the ability to ever go back, and that P3s can render a municipal government less flexible, less transparent and less accountable.
CUPE 2424 on strike at Carleton
CUPE 2424 members began walking the picket line September 5 after Carleton University administration kept offering a percentage wage increase significantly lower than what they gave faculty.
“It’s unfortunate our members will have to walk the picket line to fight for the respect they deserve,” said Susan Arab, CUPE national representative. “In the end, when the employer refuses to make an equitable offer, there isn’t really much choice.”
The local represents about 700 professional, office, technical and support staff at the Ottawa university.
See: http://2424.cupe.ca.
Vancouver workers waiting for a counter-offer
Striking CUPE members in Vancouver ended the week wondering if management was going to get back to them.
CUPE 15 sent an open letter to city council and mayor Sam Sullivan urging them to climb down from their “non-negotiable” positions and consider the regional settlement pattern.
The letter places the locals’ current proposals well within the range of offers accepted by other Vancouver-area city councils.
“It is our hope that the City will re-examine their position upon realizing that all other Lower Mainland employers have dealt with these issues at the bargaining table,” the letter said.
The Vancouver municipal strike began with CUPE 1004 on July 20. CUPE 15 and 391 joined later.
Paul Moist spends Labour Day in Kenora
CUPE’s national president talked through pouring rain at a Labour Day event in Kenora, Ontario.
Moist criticized the federal government’s record on child care, softwood lumber, the Kelowna Accord on aboriginal concerns and the Kyoto protocol on the environment.
Moist also went after Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s so called commitment to education.
Journal de Québec has a bad week
This week a member of Québec’s National Assembly held a press conference to denounce the paper for lying to her to get an interview.
Péquiste deputy Agnès Maltais was at a Pride Day rally in Québec when a journalist approached her claiming to work for canoe.ca. The interview she granted appeared in the Journal de Québec the next day.
“It’s false representation,” she said.
Meanwhile, the locked-out employees, publishing their own newspaper, discovered that Le Journal de Québec was running verbatim press releases from sporting organizations.
The paper ran the first six paragraphs of a press release from a Triple “A” hockey club in its August 26 edition without citing the source.
CUPE members running in Ontario election
Nine CUPE members are running for the NDP in the October 10 Ontario election. They are:
Henri Giroux, CUPE 146, North Bay; John Grima, CUPE 82, Essex; Pauline Kuhlmann, CUPE 5666, Leeds-Grenville; Antoni Shelton, CUPE Ontario, York West; Sid Ryan, CUPE Ontario, Oshawa; Henry Bosch, CUPE 1019, St. Catharines; Nigel Moses, CUPE 3902, Whitby-Oshawa; Shalia Kibria, CUPE 1281, Mississauga-Erindale; Ric Dagenais, CUPE National, Ottawa Vanier.
Please donate to these campaigns and volunteer to get these CUPE members elected. They are fighting for the issues most important to CUPE members, their families and their communities.
FastFacts in your inbox!
Did you know you could get FastFacts by e-mail? To sign up for this service, please send an e-mail to clandry@cupe.ca. Make sure to include your name, local number, e-mail address and province.
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