CUPE 500 dumps on proposed garbage-pickup contracts

The union that represents City of Winnipeg workers has taken issue with the companies chosen by the public service to pick up garbage and recycling.

An administration report to be considered by the water, waste and environment committee next week recommends Municipal Waste Management Ltd., which was founded in Souris, and has its corporate office in Brandon, be awarded an annual $19.7-million contract to pick up waste and recyclables in Area One from Feb. 1, 2027 to Jan. 31, 2032. Currently, Miller Waste Systems, based in Ontario, provides the service.

The report recommends GFL Environmental should be paid $17.4 million annually to handle waste and recyclables in Area Two for the same time period. GFL already provides service in this area.

Area One is the west side of the city while Area Two includes neighbourhoods east of the Red River and large sections of Fort Rouge, Fort Garry, Fort Richmond, Waverley West and St. Norbert.

Gord Delbridge, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 500, said he doesn’t understand why the city would consider going with GFL because the company moved its headquarters from Ontario to Florida last month.

“This should be concerning to all of council,” Delbridge said on Tuesday. “Where is their allegiance: with Canada or the U.S.?

“I would stand with a non-profit, in-house work, being done here and remaining Canadian. That’s highly reflected in (public opinion) polls. They shouldn’t be ignoring that,” he said.

City council had passed a motion preventing one company from holding both contracts. If not for that, GFL would have been recommended for the entire city because the report said its bid for Area One was cheaper than MWM’s, by about $19,000 per year. It was considered superior to the other company.

But Delbridge said he doesn’t see it as a victory for Canada that a Manitoba company would collect garbage and recycling from half of the city.

“The city has already shown being a Canadian company is not a priority of theirs,” he said.

“…We have an administration that doesn’t know how to deliver the service itself and just wants to sign a contract.”

Delbridge said the city doesn’t save money when it hires a private firm to pick up garbage and recycling because each bid factors in the cost of the trucks needed to do the job.

“They are treating Winnipeggers as if they are ignorant and hoping they can get away with it,” he said.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital), a member of the committee, said he is upset about the overall contract recommendations because he has argued for years it would be cheaper and more fiscally responsible for the city itself to take over a portion of collection.

“They’ve said before it would be too costly, but here we are already not going with the lower cost bid,” Mayes said, pointing to the MWM recommendation.

“It’s always the same arguments. We would have to build a garage, but they’re not giving us free garages. It is all coming at a cost in the contract… my emphasis is on in-house, but not all of it. Other cities have a mixed model to make sure you don’t lose control over costs.

“My position is, let us try the city again.”

Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie, the committee’s chair, said he would oppose GFL’s bid if the company had moved both its regional and head offices to Florida.

“They do have Canadian offices,” Eadie said.

“They located their North American head office to Florida in order to get listed on the USA stock market.”

A GFL news release last month said while “it has relocated its executive headquarters” to Florida, it was keeping its “jurisdiction of incorporation” in Canada, to allow it to stay on “Canadian equity indices,” as well as maintain a shared service hub in Vaughan, Ont.

As for the other recommended bid, Eadie admitted he is “sorry” Miller won’t retain the business.

“They did perform a great service, but the Manitoba company (MWM) getting the winning bid is second-best to moving the collection service in-house.”

Meanwhile, Tim Oliver, MWM’s vice president of operations, said “it’s pretty exciting” that his company has been recommended to pick up about half of the city’s garbage and recyclables.

“We’re a Manitoba company and our operations are all in Manitoba,” Oliver said. “We are in more than 55 municipalities across Manitoba… we don’t just go in to do the service, we become part of the community.

“It’s amazing. It’s a dream come true.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca