Rossi vows to privatize garbage collection if elected mayor

Ya barganing in good faith by starting off privitization threats??? Has he looked into any numbers? Sounds to me like Mr Smile is getting desperate.

Wouldn't privatization also mean larger fees for garbage collection that will get passed on to us? But would it also mean lower taxes (HA! Yeah right). Do we have these city strikes so often that privatization is necessary? I'm not convinced.

Rossi doesn't appear to understand that the union is not a contractor but represents the collective interests of individual workers. Saying CUPE will be "allowed to bid" is nonsense and demonstrates Rossi's general ignorance about civic governance and Ontario labour law. Taking the privatization of driver services in Ontario in 2003 as an example (a privatization that has not resulted labour peace - see last years 3 month strike at DriveTest), unionized provincial employees at MTO driver examination centres were offered the choice of transferring their job to SERCO (the company that runs DriveTest) or accepting a buyout package. So privatizing garbage collection in Toronto, assuming that there's a private firm capable of taking over garbage collection for the rest of our 2.5 million person city (minus the privatized residential collection in Etobicoke), Toronto would still have to either layoff, reassign or buyout all those City of Toronto garbage workers in addition to paying someone else to collect the trash. Right there Rossi's plan is already more expensive in the short term than the status quo. Now, as there's not a private firm (as far as I know) waiting to take over trash collecting for the city, Toronto would probably be looking at contracting out the whole of the garbage operations, vehicles and all. In that case, there's at least a chance that a CUPE bargaining unit would follow employees who went to work for the new service provider. And the city would still have to buyout the employees who chose not to go to the privatized operation. Again, more expensive than the status quo. And that's not going into the question of customer service - as a rule of thumb, the less you pay someone, the less service you get, which is why no one feels special when they eat at McDonalds. The Ministry of Transportation privatized all it's road work and maintenance in the Toronto area years ago... do you want the same kind of service from the guys picking up your trash as from the guys doing road work on the 401? There's a debate to be had about contracting out and where the private sector can partner or provide services more efficiently. But know-nothing stunts like Rossi's play on blind prejudice and ignorance not facts. And in the long-run, that's far more expensive for the taxpayers.

Things ain't so bad out here in Etobicoke. We had, you know, clean streets and didn't have to take garbage through picket lines to the dump every week or so during the strike. Oh, and did I mention how it saves millions of dollars? No? Well it saves us millions of dollars.

The more the mayoral race devolves into incoherency, the more appealing deamalgamation becomes.

Oh I remember the great service the garbage men provided on the strike.

Make people line up for hours for the opportunity to throw out their own trash.

Give me a break. Good service, who are you kidding.

Toronto used to have pickup twice a week. Now we're down to one week, and taking our own garbage to the dump during strikes.

But it is a complicated issue, I'll admit that. For even more hair pulling insanity: http://www.yorku.ca/ddoorey/lawblog/?p=1710

I think Toronto just wants someone who will stand up to the unions, TTC / CUPE, and here's hoping Rossi can do it.

Although it will no doubt be a struggle to shake them off, but in the long run I think there's good reason to believe it would save money.

Not sure what Etobicoke garbage service interruption you're speaking of - my service has been excellent - no disruptions at all. I think your density argument is backwards. Rocco Rossi is certainly the candidate most clear and outspoken (i.e. 'gutsy') on this issue and was definitely first too. But the other leading candidates are also chirping this tune or similar. And of course, see how governments deal with other Special Interest Groups.

Not sure what Etobicoke garbage service interruption you're speaking of - my service has been excellent - no disruptions at all. I think your density argument is backwards. Rocco Rossi is certainly the candidate most clear and outspoken (i.e. 'gutsy') on this issue and was definitely first too. But the other leading candidates are also chirping this tune or similar. And of course, see how governments deal with other Special Interest Groups.

Not sure what Etobicoke garbage service interruption you're speaking of - my service has been excellent - no disruptions at all. I think your density argument is backwards. Rocco Rossi is certainly the candidate most clear and outspoken (i.e. 'gutsy') on this issue and was definitely first too. But the other leading candidates are also chirping this tune or similar. And of course, see how governments deal with other Special Interest Groups.

Privatization always, always results in higher costs for the taxpayers. With a public system, the costs must cover the trash and the people to pick it up. With a private system, the costs must cover the trash, the people to pick it up, and a 5-10% annual return for shareholders of the private company.

http://www.columbia.edu/~ma820/Toronto.Garbage.html

Plenty of cities have tried and learned this lesson. It may be to Rossi's advantage to privatize garbage (hey, guaranteed job when he quits politics, lobbying for the garbage contractor), but it's definitely not to the taxpayer's advantage.

Everybody keeps calling it privatization - and Rossi does not. It's seeking cost reduction and service improvement. If CUPE can step up - terrific. If not, there will be changes.

Michael - well said!