Impact of Delays in Filling Vacant Positions in the Fleet Services Division
Dear Councillor Shiner and Members of the Government Management Committee:
RE: GM29.3 – Impact of Delays in Filling Vacant Positions in the Fleet Services Division
On behalf of the members of CUPE Local 79 I would like to thank Councillor Shiner and Members of the Government Management Committee for their ongoing monitoring of vacant front-line positions here at the City. Since the Service Level Reviews last September, this Committee has kept a careful eye on the impact that delays in filling vacant positions has had on service levels for the Divisions that report through Government Management Committee.
As is the case with the Fleet Services Division being reviewed today, often these hiring delays have a heavy impact on many other Divisions as well.
Fleet Services, and the other Divisions that utilize the fleet, are all caught in the same budget squeeze circle – the impact of vacant positions is being mitigated by overtime and external service contracts as short-term measures to plug the holes in service delivery and service levels. And the kicker is, as usual, that there are no ‘financial implications’ because additional overtime and commercial maintenance costs have been covered off by additional “savings’ in salaries and benefits – because of delays in hiring positions.
Round and round we go!
The Report before you today looks at the impact of hiring delays in Fleet Services including delayed services, service reductions, leased or rented vehicles and equipment and other impacts on Divisions that utilize Fleet Services.
Tight timelines and even tighter budgets do not mix when it comes to fleet maintenance. Ongoing job vacancies and gapping levels make it very hard for Fleet Services to deliver the services that many Divisions rely on. Other than the fleet itself, there are also impacts on the administrative side. The Report states that meeting service needs with existing staff resources within Fleet Services has resulted in “deferred vacation, training, increased overtime and earned lieu time”.
Vacant positions have meant increased overtime, contracting out and contributed to reduced service levels for many Divisions, like Facilities and Real Estate Services, Corporate Finance, Solid Waste Management, Transportation Services, Parks, Forestry & Recreation, and the Toronto Public Library.
This Report has identified training and a lack of internal resources with the expertise required, as a problem in Fleet Services. This needs to be addressed. The Audit Committee recently reported that Divisions have not used $12 million in training resources, in order to keep their Divisional budgets low/frozen, to meet the mandated 0% budget targets. This is not sustainable for service levels in the City’s Divisions.
The City must keep its 2014 Budget commitment to fill these vacant positions. Divisions like Fleet, and all the Divisions that depend on Fleet Services, cannot continue to be squeezed by budget cuts, vacancies and gapping.
Yours truly,
Tim Maguire, President