Media Release: Union Leaders Challenge EOC Report
July 30, 2007 at 2:40 AM
Leaders of Winnipeg’s civic unions are very concerned with the tone and direction of the recently released Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC) Report, Improving Our City's Competitiveness.
City Council will be considering the recommendations of the EOC to cut $56 million a year in business taxes from city revenues, as part of the budget planning for 2008.
Leaders of the unions who represent city workers – police, firefighters, paramedics, operational staff (inside and outside), transit workers and mid-management met last week to discuss their response to the EOC report.
Generally, the union leaders felt the EOC was unfair in their criticism of city workers and their collective agreements. According to Gary Swanson, President of CUPE Local 500, “we’re made out to look like we’ve created a problem for the city, when the public knows we are responsible for the high quality of services they want and get.”
Loren Schinkel of the Winnipeg Police Association noted that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has a policy of promoting strong healthy communities. He said, “The FCM is saying that thriving neighbourhoods are central to the economic, social and cultural sustainability of Canadian communities. And that economic development and social development go hand in hand, but the EOC has missed that point entirely.”
At their meeting last week, the union leaders questioned the logic of the report and challenged its assumptions about how civic employees work. For example, the recommendation to have more volunteers (seniors and teenagers) do the work of city employees in libraries, parks and other public services will only mean a decline in overall services. There will always be a role for volunteers in civic government, but certainly not taking the place of trained and experienced employees.
The union leaders said they would be working with their respective memberships over the next six months to warn the public about the dangers of implementing any of the EOC’s recommendations.
“The public needs to know that ideas for change that may sound good, are really bad for the city – any downsizing or privatizing of services will ultimately undermine the quality of services available to the citizens of Winnipeg,” said Brian Verity of the Winnipeg Association of Public Service Officers.
The Unions involved include: Amalgamated Transit Union, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Professional Paramedic Association of Winnipeg, United Firefighters of Winnipeg, Winnipeg Police Association, and Winnipeg Association of Public Service Officers.
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The Canadian Union of Public Employees is Canada’s largest union representing more than a half-million women and men. In Manitoba, CUPE represents 24,000 members working in health care facilities, school divisions, municipal services, social services, child care centres, public utilities, libraries and family emergency services.
For more information contact the different union representatives directly, or Gary Swanson, President of CUPE Local 500 at 942-1001.
