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CUPE 250, representing City of Oshawa ‘outside’ workers, recently helped keep Oshawa garbage pick-up public, effectively opposing a plan by City management to upload garbage collection to the Region of Durham – where garbage collection is contracted out to a private company.

Acting quickly and strategically, CUPE 250 with the assistance of CUPE National servicing representative Rob Cull, scoured the City’s report recommending the upload and looked for ‘holes’ in the report.

We did our homework, presented our findings to council members and reminded them why the public option was best for our community,” said Rob Cull, CUPE national staff. “Presenting facts, comparing apples to apples and pointing out inconsistencies in the report helped our cause to keep garbage pick-up public in Oshawa.”

 CUPE members spoke up for public services and the importance of keeping public services in-house at the council meeting and in the end, council decided to keep garbage collection in Oshawa public. Council also recognized the important work of public service workers, praised the hard work of CUPE 250 members, and agreed the best way to keep public services effective and efficient is to work closely with front-line workers who understand the job.

An open working relationship, due diligence, including keeping an eye on what goes into reports that impact council decisions, and talking openly with council members are key to keeping public services public,” concluded Cull.