Councillor Ana Bailao, herself a former part-time cleaner and the daughter of cleaners, led the council charge to reverse efforts to contract out city cleaning services.The Toronto Star:
Urging her colleagues to protect city cleaners targeted for outsourcing, Councillor Ana Bailão choked back tears Wednesday, recalling life as a new immigrant scrubbing Toronto offices with her mother.
“My mom had to have two jobs. At age 15, I was cleaning offices downtown for two years,” Bailão told council Wednesday, her voice breaking. “I know this industry, and these are new immigrants coming to this country . . . These are the most vulnerable people in this city.”
Council agreed, voting 29-12 to defy Mayor Rob Ford and seize oversight of any future contracting-out of city cleaning jobs from an internal committee of senior city staff. That overturns the long-standing practice of council voting on contracts only if they’re worth $20 million or more.
Bailão insisted council has not closed the door on outsourcing cleaning jobs. It has only ensured that any winning bidders will treat workers fairly, she said.
Council heard that Impact Cleaning — the sole qualified company to bid on the police station tender — was cited by the city for a fair-wage violation in a previous contract, when one of its subcontractors underpaid workers from Latin America.
“It’s an issue that is personal,” Bailão said, adding that after arriving from Portugal, she earned $6.25 an hour cleaning offices after school from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with her seamstress mother.
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