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National Unions Launch Campaign To Protect Jobs On Military Bases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2018

National Unions Launch Campaign To Protect Jobs On Military Bases

GREENWOOD, NS – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and one of its Components, the Union of National Defence Employees (UNDE), is campaigning to protect public service jobs at CFB Greenwood and CFB Kingston.

The Government of Canada has begun the process to contract out cleaning staff positions on both bases to private sector companies. The move will see 7 public service jobs eliminated at CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia and 70 positions eliminated at CFB Kingston in Ontario.

June Winger, National President of UNDE, met with Department of National Defence (DND) officials this afternoon to discuss the situation. She sums up the meeting as follows: ‘They couldn’t provide answers or demonstrate a cost benefit analysis.’ She adds: ‘If DND can’t protect basic services such as cleaning, then what’s next and who’s next? We will continue to fight for these jobs.’

Colleen Coffey, PSAC’s Atlantic Regional Executive Vice-President, comments on the union’s campaign: ‘We launched a letter writing campaign to local MPs, organized a mail drop to over 7,000 households in the Greenwood area and we will be launching a radio ad campaign and other initiatives in order to put pressure on decision makers to reverse their decision.’ She adds: ‘Let’s be clear, contracting out only lowers the wages of workers as well as the service provided and these are the lowest paid workers on the base. Private companies are in it to make profit, not provide quality service. Our men and women in uniform deserves nothing less than well-maintained facilities, with assurances of quality and security.’

The contracting out of this work will not save money for DND, will result in a reduction of quality of service, and will further erode good middle-class jobs in the Greenwood community.