The City continues to push forward on contracting out services provided by our members. As we bargain new Collective Agreements for City of Toronto members, we are pushing for stronger protections against contracting out.
Our Good Jobs TO campaign are both about the importance of good, stable, secure jobs. That means promoting good jobs in our communities, but the City needs to provide a model, and contracting out leads to insecure, low-paid jobs.
What’s more, evidence is mounting that contracting out doesn’t deliver the savings it promises. We already know that’s the case for custodial services and solid waste collection, but now we’re seeing evidence in more and more Divisions. In fact, while Divisions were holding the line on cost increases, outside contractors are allowed to charge more to keep up with inflation! It makes no sense to allow contractors to charge more for inflation while refusing to take inflation into account for things like student nutrition programs.
Ultimately, Budget 2016 has mixed messages about contracting out. Engineering and Construction Services, Toronto Water plan to continue contracting out to meet high demands. At the same time, Divisions are recognizing that they can save money by reducing how much they use external contractors!
| Division | Contracting (Source: 2016 Operating Budget Analyst Notes) |
| Engineering and Construction Services | ECS will achieve efficiency savings of 5.9% by reducing reliance on external engineering services for development engineering and third party and utility reviews. ECS will now manage changes in the workload related to these periodic review requirements internally utilizing existing staff within Engineering Review & Acceptance. |
| Facilities Management and Real Estate Services | A review of the use of external contracts versus in-house services provided is currently ongoing to determine if in-house resources can be leveraged further to execute work orders, reducing the need to rely on external contract providers. Efficiency savings of $0.150 million has been identified and is expected to be realized through the in-sourcing of half of all security system demand and preventative maintenance. This would entail hiring 2 Security Service Technicians as opposed to using external contractors. This will allow for service levels to be delivered more efficiently. |
| Legal Services | In order to be more cost efficient, the Civil Litigation service is increasing its complement of 2 permanent Solicitor positions for claims work fully funded by the Insurance Reserve. The purpose is to reduce outsourcing, as it is more economical than relying on a private law firm to do the work. This is the final phase of a 3-year plan to continue increasing internal resources to handle insurance claims related work. |
Even though these reductions in contracting out are important, we need to stay vigilant. Aside from the obvious savings to be found by bringing work back in-house, Local 79 has been hearing from members about the hidden costs of contracting out. Often, our members have to train consultants to do work that consultants should be able to perform prior to winning a contract. More often, our member have to re-do work that consultants ought to have completed correctly the first time. Just as important, the City needs to invest in its capacity to deliver services in the future. That means making sure we have skilled City of Toronto employees doing that work in the present.
Nonetheless, there continues to be ideological pressure to contract out from Mayor Tory and some City Councillors. Local 79 will continue to fight for good jobs and better services by fighting against contracting out the high quality services our members deliver.
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