The human cost of contracting-out

Back in the spring when I was first asked to blog for My City, Your City, I wrote about what I love about Toronto: the incredible diversity, the parks and tree-lined streets, Kensington Market, the arts community, the squash and beans growing in our neighbours’ front garden, and the smell of grilled sardines wafting through Little Portugal on sunny afternoons. And so now, when I look at our options for mayor and hear the call to "vote with your head, not your heart” … well, I think a lot about the real basics.

Like jobs. And how people can afford to put food on the table and still stay in our city. Is my Toronto sustainable if the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow, with little in between?

I think about contracting-out, one of the major planks in the platforms of the two front-runners and what it stays about their vision of Toronto. Now, I get that when people hear “contracting out," many think: “Ah, this is going to save me money”. Instead, I fear we are being asked to be penny wise but pound foolish.

Contracting-out for me means the loss of decent jobs and with them the human diversity that makes Toronto great. Sure there could be new jobs in the private sector. After all, someone has to collect our garbage and drive our streetcars.

But the bar will be lowered, and that’s bad for all of us. How many of these lower-paid workers will be able to afford to live in the City they serve?

Here’s the thing: if you are a city worker in Toronto you generally earn a decent, middle-class kind of income. It’s enough to get by… It’s a good quality of life. Vacation time to spend with the kids and grandkids. Benefits that ensure folks have access to medication when they are sick without having to go into debt. A measure of retirement security. This is what most of us want for ourselves and our kids.

These are not million-dollar CEO jobs or E-Health-consultant-paying-jobs. No, we’re talking about garbage collectors and streetcar drivers. These are not people living high off the hog. But they are making decent wages, and we should all aspire to have that, to ensure that our neighbours have that.

That the assault on city workers comes so soon after financiers pushed the world economy over a cliff, boggles the mind.

So when I hear "contract out," I think of the loss of family income, health and security and what that will mean to our city. I think of how much less money will be spent by those workers at the shops in their neighbourhoods, and what that will mean. I think of how much harder it will be for everyone to go and ask for a raise in keeping with the increased cost of living or an extra vacation day, if we keep driving the bar down further and further.

That’s not a vision of Toronto that I share – and I suspect the supposed popular outrage won’t sustain a city or a city government for very long. The front runners should reflect on the old adage, "you can build a throne of bayonets, but you can’t sit on it.”

About Marit Stiles

Comments

[g.t.]

To counter your idea Marit. Isn't it true that every dollar spent by the government is in fact provided by the citizens that elected them? Overpaying for a public service is not sustainable. It is only removing money from one pocket and putting it into another unnecessarily. The worst part is that the money is being redistributed from the hands of lower middle class citizens (no pension, working more hours earning less ) into the hands of relatively well off union members.If money can be saved by contracting out garbage collection, shouldn't this be explored?

This could even facilitate the lowering of garbage user fees that are being charged across the city. Every government service should not be treated as a stimulus package to third parties this only drives the cost of running the government upwards and corners the government into asking for more taxes or fees from taxpaying citizens who are most vulnerable. The poor and middle class are always left holding the bill because they are the most reliable tax base.

I agree that city workers on the front line are not fat cows and don't deserve the ridicule they are getting but the government should always look to get the best value for their dollar regardless of how predictable their revenue may be.

[Duke]

This is an interesting post, and another thing to consider is that contracting out doesn't always save money. You would think it would, and sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn't. I read a study about the contracting out of garbage collection in the former City of York. I'm paraphrasing here, but if I recall correctly the results were that there will little or no service improvements and little or no savings. The only real benefit for residents as I saw it is that there would be no garbage strikes. The downside for workers of course is loss of wages, loss of benefits, less holidays etc. The other huge benefit went to the owners and shareholders of the waste management company, who get increased profits and dividends.

So as the writer here has suggested, the rich get richer and the poor, poorer. I don't think the small benefits in this case (essentially, no strikes) really warrant the privatization. However, if one could determine really substantial savings in costs (and by extension, lower property taxes) I think most people would be willing to listen.

But I agree with the author that I don't want to see decent paying jobs disappear. I would like to see many of the proponents of privatization try to live (and raise a family) on $12 or $14 an hour with no benefits. It's basically impossible in the city, which is why the city has a fair wage policy and why the union fights to protect their members. You can't really blame them when the alternative is living in poverty.

[Jeff]

But what about folks like me who bid on these contracts and build new companies. We hire people to do the work, we buy equipment, we staff offices and yes we try to do it at a profit. Why would it make any sense for the city to own hundreds of lawn mowers? shouldn't that be something that can be bid on, awarded and build a business on? If a city owned unit needs to be painted shouldn't my sister be able to tenure a bid to do that work with her company? Nobody is saying lets race to the lowest common denominator. What some of us are saying is that the city is providing services that are the same as the private sector while not having to pay for the equipment or pay the real costs. All this is doing is preventing honest hardworking people from opening companies and bidding on these deals themselves.

[Sam]

>> So when I hear "contract out," I think of the loss of family income, health and security ..

When the city raised its budget under David Miller from $6 Billion to almost $10 Billion, where do you think that money came from? The added taxes certainly made the city less livable for many people who could no longer afford to live in Toronto. Maybe spare some sympathy for them.

[Unhappy Niagaran]

A certain degree of contracting out can be healthy.

However, care needs to be taken when any government comes to power promising tax cuts without ensuing service cuts. Guaranteed now with the victory of Rob Ford and the appointment of a right-leaning executive, these cuts will not simply be efficiencies.

Your whole city of diversity, a good public transit service, a broad spectrum of free community services, community centres in most neighbourhoods, community health centres, etc. can be wiped out by the stroke of a pen. I invite any of you to come visit Niagara Region, where public transit is either poor or non-existent, most neighbourhoods lack ANY services, most jobs are of the poor paying insecure low wage type and we are losing people in the educated and younger classes.

Toronto folks, you at least do have enough people that appreciate the diversity and community programming that Toronto has and can mobilize to prevent the worst of it from taking place through working directly with your local councilors and senior civil servants. You also have the head offices of many labour organizations, immigrant groups, etc. that will ensure that Toronto does not become another Detroit. It is not too late for the people of Toronto, even though it is too late for the people of Niagara.

[Unhappy Niagaran]

A certain degree of contracting out can be healthy.

However, care needs to be taken when any government comes to power promising tax cuts without ensuing service cuts. Guaranteed now with the victory of Rob Ford and the appointment of a right-leaning executive, these cuts will not simply be efficiencies.

Your whole city of diversity, a good public transit service, a broad spectrum of free community services, community centres in most neighbourhoods, community health centres, etc. can be wiped out by the stroke of a pen. I invite any of you to come visit Niagara Region, where public transit is either poor or non-existent, most neighbourhoods lack ANY services, most jobs are of the poor paying insecure low wage type and we are losing people in the educated and younger classes.

Toronto folks, you at least do have enough people that appreciate the diversity and community programming that Toronto has and can mobilize to prevent the worst of it from taking place through working directly with your local councilors and senior civil servants. You also have the head offices of many labour organizations, immigrant groups, etc. that will ensure that Toronto does not become another Detroit. It is not too late for the people of Toronto, even though it is too late for the people of Niagara.

[rob]

No matter who picks the garbage up , it is going to cost money , but the big difference will be the workers will be payed chum change and little or no benefits.
I doubt any of you who are for contracting would work for one of those companies for crap wages and worked like a dog.

Yes , it's all good when it is not YOUR job being taken away.