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Decision to rush solid waste selloff yesterday a ‘poorly thought out scheme’ says 416 Vice President
TORONTO, Ont. — Residents could be on the ‘fast track’ to a dirtier, less safe and less accountable Toronto, the Vice-President of the Toronto Civic Employees Union (TCEU), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 416 warned today.
Dave Hewitt was responding to reports yesterday that the city of Toronto had issued a Request for Quotations (RFQ) to contract out solid waste service west of Yonge Street, to the Etobicoke border.
“What Councillor Minnan-Wong announced yesterday confirms Local 416’s worst fears—namely that the City of Toronto is more interested in fast tracking a poorly thought out scheme to sell off solid waste collection to private interests than with putting the needs of Torontonians first,” said Hewitt.
Despite independent reports showing the City’s suggested cost savings of selling off waste collection to private bidders are, at best, seriously flawed, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, yesterday announced that he expects private trucks to be on the road six months earlier than planned.
“The purported savings from contracting out solid waste collection remain based on the same poor math and wildly optimistic assumptions that were in use in May, when this first came before Council,” said Hewitt.
“Those should be contrasted with the real cost savings that would flow from the City actually sitting down with front line workers—who have the best and strongest knowledge of the system—and working with us to give residents the best possible service at the best possible value,” he added.
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For more information, contact:
Dave Hewitt, TCEU Vice President, 416-451-7528
Kevin Wilson, CUPE Communications, 416-821-6641
