Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Council defies Ford on contracting-out cleaners

Urging her colleagues to protect city cleaners targeted for outsourcing, Councillor Ana Bailão choked back tears Wednesday, recalling life as a new immigrant scrubbing Toronto offices with her mother.

“My mom had to have two jobs. At age 15, I was cleaning offices downtown for two years,” Bailão told council Wednesday, her voice breaking. “I know this industry, and these are new immigrants coming to this country . . . These are the most vulnerable people in this city.”

Council agreed, voting 29-12 to defy Mayor Rob Ford and seize oversight of any future contracting-out of city cleaning jobs from an internal committee of senior city staff. That overturns the long-standing practice of council voting on contracts only if they’re worth $20 million or more.

Ford’s latest loss, following rebukes on the 2012 budget and transit expansion, was one vote shy of the 30 his foes need regularly to completely seize the council agenda.

It also puts a big obstacle in the Ford administration’s plan to save millions by outsourcing the jobs of most or all of the city’s roughly 1,000 cleaners.

In February, the internal bid committee awarded a one-year, $1.9 million contract to Impact Cleaning Services to clean police stations. Next on the block are city staff who clean a 10-storey police communications centre and city-run daycares across Toronto.

But council voted to have the city manager report in September on whether to exercise options to renew the police station contract for up to four more years. Also, any other cleaning contracts must now go to the government management committee and then council for approval. The employment, health and safety records of bidders will be evaluated.

“They’re trying to stop us contracting out cleaning” and saving taxpayers millions of dollars per year, Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday thundered to reporters. City cleaners earn an average of $64,000 per year in salary and benefits, compared with $50,000 in the private sector, he said.

“It’s ideology driven, it’s not good management, it’s not in the best interest of the taxpayer.”

But Bailão insisted council has not closed the door on outsourcing cleaning jobs. It has only ensured that any winning bidders will treat workers fairly, she said.

Council heard that Impact Cleaning — the sole qualified company to bid on the police station tender — was cited by the city for a fair-wage violation in a previous contract, when one of its subcontractors underpaid workers from Latin America.

“It’s an issue that is personal,” Bailão said, adding that after arriving from Portugal, she earned $6.25 an hour cleaning offices after school from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with her seamstress mother.

“I know that what we do here at the city really pushes the standard in the industry.”

Original Article
Source: Star
Author: David Rider

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