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Jun 20, 2022 at 2:29 pm
City Councillor Mayor School Trustee 73 - TEA1
Kamloops and District Labour Council asks:
Describe your position on Contracting Out and Public Private Partnerships and how they effect existing jobs.
Candidate Answers
My personal belief is that jobs should be sourced locally as much as possible. In terms of Contracting Out and PPPs, I don't have much experience in these areas.
Fundamentally I have always been against contracting out if it impacts unionized workers. That’s a given. In terms of P3s, I see them as a potential solution in some situations but I’m not a big fan of them.
The important consideration for both issues is how does it impact Kamloopsians?
PPP's definitely have a place - in the garbage with other bad ideas! As for contracting out, I am a firm believer that the City should only contract out what can't be done by City employees.
I believe in locally sourcing work as much as possible, but understand that it's not always realistic in every scenario (ie. sometimes there is no one qualified to meet the requirements, staffing shortages don't allow, etc.)
Contracting out and PPPs should only occur when there are no other options. Unionized workers at the local level should always be prioritized and these models should only be employed as the delivery of public facilities and services when no other options are available to meet the need.
I would want to ensure that the collective agreement that city has with CUPE 900 is honoured and we work collaboratively with CUPE 900 on contracting out provisions. The city has from time to time "contracted in" because work was better done by city staff.
I think Public Private Partnerships are a tool in the toolbox. They should be considered thoughtfully with full consideration to high labour standards and high service standards.
There are many skilled workers in town that are not employed in their trade. Before companies look to fill jobs outside, it is essential that they look locally. It could come to pass that a job requires such specialization that is not available within the existing workforce. Only then should we be bringing in an outside work force. PPP's need to be used to fill the gap, not replace existing jobs.
I do not support contracting out especially if will eliminate well paying union jobs.
The change over of IHA unionized laundry staff comes to mind right away. That is not something I want our city to accept again. Having good paying union jobs transferred to a neighbouring community.
I am not a supporter of contracting out. The past experience when companies have bid on jobs against CUPE staff is that we had better results when the work was done internally. The City of Kamloops should be developing internal capacity wherever possible with good paying jobs. In fact, from time to time there have been budget requests to hire on more staff, for example carpenters and electricians, and the math has shown that it would save money. While Council doesn't directly decide these matters, any time a budget issue comes up we can enquire whether the work will be done internally or externally.
We pay a premium to temporarily hire others and due to a desire to maximize profit those companies may be paying their workers less or cutting corners on health and safety. One concrete example of advocacy I've been doing in this area is wanting to remove the for-profit Ohio based company that is running our transit system by having BC Transit operate the system directly, as they do in Victoria.
P3s, in my view, have been used mainly to undercut existing contracts and weaken union workplaces. In rare circumstances like for highly specialized project work where it doesn't make sense to maintain those capacities within the public sector or where governments are genuinely partnering in an area of private industry expertise, these may be appropriate. In that case, when choosing partners governments should use their influence and evaluate bids based on raising, not lowering, standards.
My position on contracting out and public private partnerships is very simple, I do not believe in it. More often than not, I have seen many close friends and family lose work in federal/provincial/local governments because administration chose to go the "cheaper" route and contract work that could be easily completed by members of the union involved. We are seeing a trend in many municipalities across BC were in order to save "some money" they will seek contractors to complete essential works like landscaping, road maintenance and etc. In my experiences, this move only ends in two ways; people losing their jobs entirely or getting their hours cut.
Contracting out seems very counterintuitive. A profit driven company who needs to take some of the money off the top of the contract can only provide either less of a service or lower wages to employees, neither of which go to building a better community.
From a risk management and access to government funding perspective, P3s make sense for municipalities—they are almost mandated to follow this structure.
That being said, providing local employment and procurement are critical to our local economy and offer multiple benefits. I think aiming to ensure any municipal project supports local jobs and businesses only makes sense and are integral to a healthy local economy. Any time existing jobs can be created and retained, we all win.
Public private partnerships can be investigated in supplying a service currently not available in our city. For example some cities have build a facility with a hotel attached to limit taxpayer cost while a needed facility gets built.
It is my understanding that our contracts describe what is to be undertaken by our unionized labour force. There is no reason to contract out this agreed to work activities.
On public/private partnerships there may be opportunities on capital projects where this may be considered. However, I don't see these impacting existing jobs in the City.
Contracting should only take place with local providers. It can not be to the detriment of the Union workers, ever. I am ok with PPP in some scenarios, again not at the expense of Union workers.
I know of instances where our city is using contractors for public works, because of the poisonous work environment with some of the managers, it says a lot when city employees are not taking overtime and letting go of financial security because they can't deal with the management.
Contracting out should only happen when there are no other options to ensure local employees have priority.
I believe in investing locally and publicly.
My focus is on representing our community in the school district, and that means working with those who work within our school districts.
I recognize that this position will—at times—require creative solutions and I am committed to finding them.
Contracting out should only be used when our City Staff are not qualified or the City does not have enough or can not attract new Employees to work for the City. We have LAndscape crews , i am not sure why we are contracting out our Landscaping service to one company.
This just comes down to available resources and scope of work. If the city staff does not have the depth of resources to complete a task in a timely manner, or does not have the equipment and/or skills to complete a project then it only makes sense to contract out.