HALIFAX – The union that represents Halifax Regional Municipality’s outside workers welcomes the review of solid waste operations announced this week, but says that it’s missing a key ingredient.
CUPE Local 108 President Mike Young says, “The staff report given to council on Tuesday forgot one critical element and that is the delivery model. Taxpayers have a right to know if continuing to contract out this key service to the private sector is actually saving them money.
“We have lots of evidence to suggest there have been no efficiencies gained by privatizing the services. In fact, the opposite is true. We would strongly encourage HRM Council to take a long, hard look at bringing the services back in-house,” says Young.
CUPE National Representative Lorne Trevors says, “Our union can provide several instances where other Canadian municipalities have compared the two models – private or public delivery – and concluded that in-house was the way to go.
“Right here in Nova Scotia, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality made the decision to bring their solid waste program back in-house in 2006 because of the efficiencies they could achieve,” notes Trevors.
Trevors says municipalities have a huge economic advantage over private contractors because they are exempt from HST payments and can buy fuel in bulk at big savings.
Says Trevors, “The history of this service being privatized had more to do with the ideology of council at the time than it did with sound economic policy.”
For information:
Mike Young Lorne Trevors John McCracken
President, Local 108 CUPE National Rep. CUPE Communications Rep.
(902) 454-6369 (o) (902) 818-5743 (Cell) (902) 455-4180 (o)
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