City workers' union decries layoffs, warns that cost-savings should not come at expense of services and jobs

SUDBURY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 26, 2015) - The union representing over 1,600 workers at the City of Greater Sudbury is calling on Mayor Brian Bigger to reverse recent layoffs of cemetery workers and to halt plans for further layoffs of city staff.

"The mayor and council are going back on a commitment to achieving efficiencies and cost savings without resorting to layoffs," said Darryl Taylor, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4705. "The mayor campaigned on a promise to hold the line on property taxes this year. Whether that's ill-advised or not, he committed to working with us to ensure that services are protected and that there will be no layoffs. Despite that, our members who work in Sudbury's cemeteries received layoff notices last week, and we hear that there are more pink slips coming soon for inside workers."

CUPE National Representative Michael Brady noted that the layoff notices issued last week may also be violations of the city's contract with its workers. "They did not follow the 90-day notice provisions in our collective agreement, and they may well have violated the contracting-out provisions, too," said Brady. "We'll certainly be grieving these layoffs, but we'd rather be working with the City to find ways to prevent them."

"Our union has attempted to participate meaningfully in Mayor Bigger's P6M ('Project Six Million') effort, despite having been shut out of the formal committee," said Taylor. "We wrote to the mayor and council in July and provided a great deal of input. We well recall the mayor's commitment to achieve savings without cutting services or laying off staff, and we urge him to act on that commitment now."

CUPE 4705 proudly delivers public services to Greater Sudbury, and represents both inside and outside workers, including paramedics, transit bus operators, parks staff, road crews, service centre personnel, arena staff, and sanitation staff among others.