Peterborough Contracting out essential municipal services will lead to a loss of accountability and open the door to more privatization, warns the union representing over 100 City of Peterborough outside workers.
We want the residents of Peterborough to know that the Citys essential services are being contracted out to profit-seeking corporations, says Kirk Johnston, vice president of Local 504 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). We will be fighting to ensure that essential municipal services are delivered by public workers who care about the City and their work.
The City of Peterborough is looking to contract out both citywide garbage collection and cleaning services for the Simcoe Street bus terminal and parking garages. Contracting out will affect our jobs and livelihood, says Terry Anderson, CUPE Local 504 spokesperson. But most importantly, these essential services will no longer be accountable to elected officials, and the public will lose if this goes through. Other services would soon be put up for sale.
CUPE has established an anti-contracting out committee that will reach out to community groups and residents, lobby local politicians, and build public support to make sure this proposal is stopped.
Peterborough residents voted for their councillors and mayor to govern and manage public services, says Anderson. They didnt vote for private companies to come in and make profits from public services, dismantling them in the process.
The anti-contracting out campaign targeting Peterborough residents will include door-to- door leafleting by workers from the Local. Our goal is to make sure that all citizens of Peterborough are made aware of what is going on in the City, says Johnston. We are confident that residents will want their public services to be accountable to the taxpayers and not to shareholders of profit-seeking corporations.
For further information, please contact:
Kirk Johnston
Vice-President
CUPE Local 504
705-760-5131 (cell)
Terry Anderson
CUPE Local 504
705-872-8081 (cell)
James Chai
CUPE Communications
416-292-3999
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