On September 14, the City’s Alternate Service Delivery (ASD) Committee, Chaired by Councillor Jeff Browaty, approved a recommendation to spend $371,000 dollars to purchase and install Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems in City vehicles except for the Police Service and Transit Department.
Local 500 President, Mike Davidson says the City claims the intent of the AVL systems is to save money by monitoring idle time, tracking routes and making sure their employees, our members, are not misusing the vehicles.
“CUPE was aware that the City uses GPS tracking for safety and statistical purposes, said Local 500 President, Mike Davidson. “But the conversation has moved beyond that. Why this intense focus on City workers and their movements? Why is there no similar tracking of the private contractors the City uses? Where is the accountability there?”
The Local believes the price tag for these systems, once you include monitoring costs, will be closer to $2 million dollars.
“This money could be used for more important issues facing our City,” says Davidson. “And to top it off, the City is contracting out the monitoring to an Alberta company. This move to send vehicle tracking work outside Manitoba is a symptom of bigger problems at City Hall. The decision-making structure is flawed – we have secretive committees like Alternate Service Delivery making major decisions before the rest of Council even hears about them. The accountability and due process is just not there. You have a two-tiered City Council, and Winnipeggers deserve better.”
The Local has filed a policy grievance on behalf of the membership and will report back as this issue moves along the labour relations process.
