Pantalone counters Rossi's ignorance on garbage

From MayorJoe.ca:

Earlier this week, mayoral candidate Rocco Rossi promised that if he were to become a mayor, he would privatize Toronto’s garbage collection, and thus there would never be another garbage strike in Toronto. In an interview with InsideToronto.com, Joe countered Rossi’s promise, displaying the ignorance in this vow:

But Joe Pantalone, a rival candidate and the city’s deputy mayor, said Rossi’s vows of “never again” allowing a garbage strike in Toronto displays his ignorance.

“He’s showing the fact that he’s never been elected to anything and he doesn’t understand how government and labour laws work.”

Unless Rossi’s “running for God,” Pantalone argued, those laws will allow unionized workers for private companies to strike, as the province’s DriveTest examiners and York Region’s Viva transit operators both did recently.

If the city privatizes waste collection – which Rossi and other contenders for mayor have said they might do – it would no longer have the trucks, transfer stations or trained workforce if it changes its mind.

“We would be in effect captive to the private sector,” Pantalone said.

The deputy mayor said what he learned from the strike “is really nobody wins,” including the workers who lost wages and communities who put up with aggravation.

“Everyone should take a cold shower before the next negotiations reach that kind of a breaking point.”

Read the full article on InsideToronto.com.