Toronto announces privatization of municipal workforce

[Hannah Bell]

Earlier this week, Toronto’s right-wing populist mayor, Rob Ford, announced that he has given the union representing the city’s garbage collectors the requisite 90 days notice that he intends to privatize curb-side pickups, vacuum street cleaning and park litter collection services. The first stage of the privatization plan will result in at least 300 jobs being cut from the city payroll, but places hundreds more on the chopping block.

Ford ally, City Councillor and public works chairman Denzil Minnan-Wong enthusiastically told the press that the mayor’s fiat was just “a first base” for more privatization to come. City Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother, went even further. In 2012, he said, “we should outsource everything we can”.

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday—who privatized garbage collection in the suburb of Etobicoke prior to its amalgamation with Toronto—has made clear that Ford’s plan is intended not simply to cut jobs but wages as well. “There certainly are a lot of things that we could look at, and anything that’s labour-intensive here is very expensive,” said Holyday. “We know that the cleaning … police stations … cutting grass and digging and labour type-work pretty good around here. A lot better than the people who pay the (tax) bills get.”

Holyday’s attempt to portray city workers as living high off the hog in a city that is home to Canada’s financial elite is patently absurd. A recent study found that between 1977 and 2007 the share of total market income taken by the richest 0.1 percent of Canadians—some 24,600 people—almost tripled to 5.5 percent. And from 1987 to 2007, the richest 1 percent of all Canadians appropriated 32 percent—or almost a third—of all real income growth in that period.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/cana-f12.shtml

[Angry Dragon]

1. Wait a few years the people will be paying more for the services

the guys in the suits will be long gone and it will be too late

[applegrove]

2. In Ottawa the city got the contract to pick up garbage and did it for less cost

and with better service than what the private sector is doing in the portion of the city of Ottawa they still have. Apparently the city underbid the private garbage firms for the downtown area. People assume that private business will do it for cheaper but that obviously isn't always the case.

[WinkyDink]

8. "Isn't always the case"?? How about NEVER?

[SidDithers]

3. Rob Ford's an ass. And wsws unrec..nt

Sid

[leftstreet]

4. K&R

[saras]

5. Cost isn't the only issue

Private companies are motivated to cut the quality of service, as they don't have to clean up the mess - the cities do.

[hermetic]

6. Many years ago

The city of St. Paul provided trash pick up and charged it to your property tax. Then they privatized. At first is was cheaper to the consumer as the tax was lowered. Then, of course, the private company started charging more, because they could. This opened up competition, but they all still charged more and then you had freaking garbage trucks going down your alley almost every single morning, since they all did different days. I hated it.

[WinkyDink]

7. There is no social contract in North America. Do citizens think "privatization" means "free"?