Manitoba’s largest labour union has released new polling that shows the City of Winnipeg needs to rethink its approach to procurement.
Polling conducted by Probe Research between February 13 and 27 shows that 69% of Winnipeg residents support ensuring garbage collection is done by city workers rather than private companies. Only 31% said they prefer private companies.
“We know that city workers do the work not for profit, which means that money is staying here in our economy,” said Gord Delbridge, president of CUPE 500. “It’s really good to see that public support for city workers.”
The polling also found that 93.2% of Winnipeg residents support ensuring the City of Winnipeg gives preference to local companies over American companies, compared to just 6.8% who believe American companies should be on equal footing.
“Our message to council—that they need to revisit these massive contracts to American companies—is clearly gaining steam,” said Delbridge. “They need to go back to the drawing board on this.”
Winnipeg residents are also overwhelmingly prepared to pay slightly more for services in order to keep them local. Seventy-six per cent agree that when buying goods and services, the City of Winnipeg should pay a little more to support local providers. Only 11.8% support an approach that prioritizes paying less for American goods and services.
“Winnipeg residents are taking an ‘elbows up’ approach,” said Delbridge. “They expect their city council to take that same approach.”
CUPE has long advocated for all levels of government to reduce spending on American contractors, from First Student school bussing to Emterra garbage collection.
“It’s not just the city of Winnipeg, although that’s a big one,” said Delbridge. “Clearly, there is strong public support here for an approach where our elected officials reduce spending on American firms and instead have local, public employees deliver these services.”