The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and the Union of National Defence Employees (UNDE) have released a comprehensive report titled; “In the interest of safety and security: The case for ending the privatization of Department of National Defence services”.
Cleaning, lawn care, administration, IT, firefighting, helicopter maintenance, and many more roles have been contracted out to the private sector. The report highlights how pervasive privatization has become within DND, the secrecy behind these contracts, and the many problems this situation has created for both the contract workers, civilian and military personnel.
“DND is giving away billions each year of our tax dollars to mega corporations, who are raking in huge profits from these contracts,” states Craig Reynolds, PSAC Ontario Regional Executive Vice-President. “The contracts often go over budget, which exemplify the lack of oversight and transparency by the government when dealing with private contractors.”
The report uncovers disturbing details, including:
- In its 2018-2019 budget, DND awarded nearly $4 billion of public money to private contracts.
- Evidence indicates that these contracts are costing substantially more money than if that work was done within the public service, as it used to be.
- The companies cited in the report have questionable track records on issues surrounding human rights, health and safety and workers' rights.
“During this pandemic we worked hard to protect our civilian and military personnel by pressuring the government to take precautions to slow the spread of the virus,” says June Winger, UNDE President. “Yet those contract workers were not afforded those same protections, potentially placing our DND workers and troops at risk.”
PSAC and UNDE are demanding that the government put a halt to privatization within DND and bring that work back into the public service.
Links
Report – In the interest of safety and security: The case for ending the privatization of Department of National Defence services
Media kit:https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qfCRfE5MVFfcXXzurLPdFozwsnU98Qs4
Web site: https://uncoverthecost.ca/
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Lino Vieira, Political Communications Officer, vieiral@psac-afpc.com or 416-577-0238