CORNWALL, Ontario – Members of CUPE Local 234-B and their supporters plan to express their concerns over the new solid waste contract at City Hall prior to the council meeting on Monday, Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
The new contract, set to be awarded during the meeting, may determine the fate of employment for over 25, long-time workers of the current contractor, HGC Management Inc. (HGC). If council awards the new contract to a different contractor, these employees may be out of a job as of April 1, 2019.
“You have the ability to build job protection into any new contract,” said Keith Sandford, CUPE National Representative, in a press release. “You have the ability to show leadership here, and ensure any new contractor must take the existing workforce if they win the privilege of serving this community. We are urging you: don’t be job killers in the City of Cornwall.”
Council voted on Monday, Jan. 14 to defer the solid waste contract decision until Monday, Jan. 28. The tender was tied to a report presented to Council which advocated two different options. The first option would keep things as they are with HGC and the second, with 360 Environmental Solutions Inc., advocated for bag limits and a move towards mandatory recycling.
Environmental 360 Solutions Inc. offered to complete the contract for $24,089,466.73 over seven years, while HGC bid a lower price of $23,915,955.10.
During the meeting, Herb Lambacher, owner of HGC, said he did not understand why administration was going with a more expensive option, especially after his long relationship with the City of Cornwall and collecting community waste and recycling for 28 years.
“If we don’t go along with the process, then there is legal exposure for the corporation,” said CAO Maureen Adams at the Jan. 14 meeting in which administration argued that Environmental 360 Solutions Inc. offered the best fit.
