A year to the day after the end of last summer’s garbage strike, mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi vowed to privatize municipal waste collection in order to reduce the risk of future strikes and generate operational savings of an estimated $20-million annually.
Mr. Rossi played down the risk of triggering another strike in a battle over outsourcing with the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416. “I’m truly looking to be bargaining in good faith,” he said. “I’m not looking for confrontation.”
But labour strife could await any future mayor who attempts to remove language in CUPE’s collective agreement that protects jobs when the city outsources services, says Local 416 vice-president Dave Hewitt. “The members want to keep the jobs in house.”
Candidates George Smitherman and Rob Ford have both raised the issue of outsourcing garbage collection during the campaign.
Mr. Rossi favours an approach used in other cities in which private sector operators essentially inherit public sector labour contracts. Savings would come from productivity improvements and work force attrition, he said.
If elected, Mr. Rossi also pledged to get a better financial deal for Toronto taxpayers, criticizing last year’s summer’s negotiated settlement between the City and CUPE. “We’re not getting the best value for money for the citizens and that’s simply not acceptable in the current reality.”
The key sticking point in the strike was the fate of the so-called sick bank. Under the final deal, CUPE members received six per cent over three years, and city officials touted the settlement as less expensive than other recent public service contracts.
The current contract expires Dec. 31, 2011, approximately a year into the next mayor’s term of office.
