Canadian Government Fires 1,500 Workers to Cut Costs, Then Hires Private Firm for $100M to Do

[xchrom]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2012/09/13/canadian-government-fires-1500-workers-to-cut-costs-then-hires-private-firm-for-100m-to-do-the-work/

Canadian Government Fires 1,500 Workers to Cut Costs, Then Hires Private Firm for $100M to Do the Work

THIS (NOT) JUST IN: The exact sort of anti-worker policy that has come to represent conservative economics in America is being practiced by conservatives in Canada as well.

Under the guise of cost-cutting, the Canadian government recently issued notices to more than 1,500 workers that their services were no longer needed. But, according to the Ottawa Citizen, the Defence Department (DND) is now planning on paying $100 million to private firms to take over the jobs of the fired staff.

This indicates, to unbiased onlookers, that the move was never about trimming government fat but, rather, privatizing government jobs and taking power away from the union and its 19,000 workers. According to John MacLennan, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees,

“We were told that those jobs were not needed and those people wouldn’t be replaced. The government’s program was supposedly all about saving money so how do you save money when you cut jobs and then turn around and spend $100 million to hire companies to do the same work?”

[Blue_Tires]

1. just following our example, i guess...

[MADem]

2. GASP!!! In Canada--the place where everything is perfect? I'm SHOCKED!

Shocked, I tell you!!

No....not really. They've had that asshole Bushnorth Harper for quite awhile. It ain't paradise any more; hasn't been for a while.

[qb]

3. An example of the Conservative's BIG LIE about saving money.

It's just a ruse to shift more taxpayer money to the private sector

[Lucy Goosey]

4. As a Canadian federal public servant...

...Can I just say, "fuck you, Stephen Harper!"?



Also, I think union-busting was a much more important, though unstated, goal of the recent public service job cuts for the Conservatives than saving money. Every job they cut takes also cuts a member of PSAC, PIPSC, UNDE, etc. Now those jobs are going to be done by contractors who have no security or benefits, and as a bonus, giant consulting firms will be reaping in money.