Peterborough City of Peterborough garbage collection workers, whose hard work and dedication was commended by the Mayor and the public, will continue to fight contracting out plans by City Management, says the union representing over 100 City of Peterborough outside workers.
Peterborough residents should know that, while their city workers worked all day and night to help clean up the floods, management at City Hall is still contemplating contracting out garbage services, says Kirk Johnston, Vice-President of Local 504 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Instead of recognizing their hard work, our members are facing the possibility of getting axed.
Management at City Hall recently revealed that the proposal to privatize citywide garbage collection and cleaning services at the Simcoe Street Parking Garage has been deferred until the end of this year or early next year.
The decision to defer and not cancel the whole contracting out plan is a slap in the face to all the public service workers who came to help us during our time of crisis, says Terry Anderson, CUPE Local 504 spokesperson. Public service workers from across the province provided much needed help and support during the cleanup from the floods. Will profit-seeking companies be willing to put the same effort put forward by public service workers, asks Anderson.
Prior to the flood, CUPE launched an anti-contracting out campaign to reach out to community groups and residents, lobby local politicians, and build public support to stop the contracting out of essential city services. Our door-to-door campaign showed that our residents wanted their public services to be accountable to the taxpayers, and not to shareholders of profit-seeking companies, says Anderson.
After what we all experienced with the floods, residents have even more reasons to ensure that their services remain public, says Anderson. CUPE Local 504 will continue to mobilize citizens, lobby politicians and build support to stop contracting out plans at City Hall.
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For further information, please contact:
Terry Anderson, CUPE Local 504 Spokesperson - (705) 872-8081 (cell)
Kirk Johnston, Vice-President, CUPE Local 504 - (705) 760-5131 (cell)
James Chai, CUPE Communications - (416) 292-3999