Campaign to End Contracting Out of Civilian Work Within Department of National Defence 
September
2018. PSAC's broad public campaign successfully halts the contracting
out
of cleaning services at Greenwood military base in rural Nova Scotia.
The planned contracting out of cleaning services in Kingston is also
reversed.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada
(PSAC) and one of its
largest components, the Union of National Defence Employees (UNDE),
are calling on Canadians to join its campaign to eliminate
privatization within the Department of National Defence (DND). The
unions released a report on October 30, "detailing the failure of
privatization within the DND. Most DND bases contract out
facilities management, cleaning, food preparation, grass cutting,
and trades work. Services critical to DND operations, such as
helicopter maintenance and airport management, are also
contracted out." PSAC-UNDE declares, "When
governments contract out public
sector work to private companies, profits take priority over
services, and everyone, except the corporate shareholders, ends
up paying the price."  PSAC-UNDE details
the abuse of public funds and workers by the
contracted companies. This abuse includes a constant demand to
amend the contracts for more money and extensions, the hiding of
how the money is used, terrible relations with employees and a
low standard of service.
"Once the contract goes
out the door, Canadians have no way of
knowing how public money is being spent because of the protection
of competitive advantages and corporate interests clauses in the
Access to Information Act,"
states Marianne Hladun, Regional
Executive Vice-President, PSAC-Prairies. "Without the details of
these contracts, the public has no information on inspection
reports, employee salaries, equipment expenses, or profits made
by the companies. When employees report being told to water down
cleaning products and ration supplies, those details become very
important." PSAC-UNDE says Canadian Forces Base
budgets are skewed to
ensure that it appears favourable to hire private contractors rather
than having public
sector employees doing the work. Within the budgetary process
very little money is allotted for in-house organizing of
maintenance and service. In contrast, the budget calls for
"generous funds" to be paid for contracted services for
Operations and Maintenance. Inexplicably, Base Commanders are
bound by their budgets, which are determined by DND, not to use the
public
service but rather to contract out the work to private interests,
"even if contracting out is more expensive." PSAC-UNDE
says, "Instead of providing the budget to hire an
adequate number of employees, the DND
skimps on staffing budgets, forcing Base Commanders to contract
out while knowing that it will cost more money to provide less
service. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in this shell
game, with substantial profits going to private corporations in
Canada, and across the globe. "In the meantime,
communities across the country that rely on
Canadian Forces bases for employment are left with minimum wages
and precarious jobs instead of decent work that pays a decent
wage and allows workers to contribute to their local
economies." The DND annually gives around $4
billion of public funds to
private companies rather than investing that money in building a
viable public service sector and giving workers a chance to have
stable Canadian standard jobs with security of employment. A
vibrant stable public sector ensures that the DND money spent on
services and maintenance for the most part flows into and
throughout the local economy. The amount contracted
companies siphon off as expropriated
profit is not a trifling amount. Many of these companies are
global cartels that repatriate their profits to who knows where.
Cartels such as Aramark, Sodexo and ATCO are
notorious global privatizing profiteers involved in contracting
work in health care and all manner of social programs and public
services. Alberta Experience "Alberta
is riddled with examples of unnecessary contracting
out ranging from facilities management and cleaning, to kitchen
staff and emergency medical response staff. We even have public
sector trades people being replaced with contracted 'handymen.'
Our bases deserve the highest quality of work, not cutting
corners for profit's sake," states Peter Devlin, UNDE Local 30910
President. "UNDE hears incidents of contracts issued through
members at the base but cannot find any public records. If there
are public dollars involved, there should be public
accountability, period." PSAC-UNDE says, "Public
service janitorial workers used to be
larger in scale but are slowly being eroded. In 2019, an advanced
procurement notice was issued for Wainright Garrison [Alberta]
for janitorial services with a total cost of $6 million over
three years to supplement the work of the public service." Devlin
insists that the union's campaign to oppose
privatization "isn't a matter of switching private contractors,
it's about getting out of the privatization game altogether --
we tried it and it failed. By investing public dollars into the
public service, we know we are investing in quality work with
transparency and accountability, and good stable jobs for the
people of our communities." The experience in
Alberta confirms that privatization
undermines the safety of workers and their working conditions and
saps money not only from the local economy but from Canada.
Saskatchewan Experience 15 Wing Moose Jaw,
similar to other DND bases, has privatized
and contracted out facilities' management, cleaning, food
preparation, grass cutting, trades work, helicopter maintenance,
airport management and firefighters. Reports are rampant of
contracted employees being pressured by their employers "to water
down cleaning products and ration supplies." Those details never
come to official light because the contracts and details of the
companies' practice are kept secret and no accountability is
allowed. "At the start of the pandemic at 15 Wing
Moose Jaw, it became
even more clear that contracting out creates two classes of
people: those protected by their employer and those that felt
disposable," UNDE Regional Vice President Mona Simcoe states.
"Despite continuing to be paid, CAE subcontractors, ATCO and
Sodexo, ignored directives to limit work to 'only essential core
activities' and instructed their workers to continue to go into
work, regardless of the urgency of the task." PSAC-UNDE
writes, "DND told PSAC-UNDE that it 'couldn't tell
the contractors how to manage' their employees. Only through
intervention by senior elected union officials -- UNDE National
President June Winger and Vice-President Mona Simcoe -- and only
when the deputy minister was brought into the situation, did
contractors address the union's concerns. But it's still not
enough. The union continues to fight for these workers' rights as
coronavirus cases dramatically increase once again." PSAC-UNDE
emphasizes, "Contracting out creates an endless
cycle of precarious work. With Aramark's current contract
complete in January 2021, Aramark employees at 15 Wing are
currently under threat of losing their jobs. A new contractor
would mean job losses for every Aramark employee at 15 Wing."
For Simcoe a solution is not difficult. "With
Aramark's current contract out for proposals, now is the perfect
time to bring these workers back into the public service. By
investing public dollars into the public service, we know we are
investing in quality work with transparency and accountability
and good, stable jobs for the people of our communities," she says.
Manitoba Experience The
Manitoba experience reveals the failures of privatization
within the DND and that a solution
exists in contracting the work back into the public service
sector. "Over a decade ago, we experienced the failure of
privatization at 17 Wing in Winnipeg. Civilian cleaners had their
hours reduced from eight to six hours. Any work required outside those
six hours was contracted out. It didn't take long for there to be
complaints about the quality of work provided by the private
company. Contracting out created the problem and contracting the
work back in has solved it," said Mona Simcoe, UNDE Regional Vice
President for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Hladun
notes, "PSAC-UNDE has analyzed the data and heard directly from
affected workers and the findings are clear: Canadians pay more
to get less through privatization, all the while undermining fair
and safe labour practises, labour relations and the security of
our bases. Now is the time to put an end to these private
contracts and begin contracting back in the civilian work on DND
bases." PSAC-UNDE's statement concludes decisively,
"Private interests have no
place on Canada's military bases."
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 44 - November 14, 2020
Article Link:
Campaign to End Contracting Out of Civilian Work Within Department of National Defence
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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