Stop Contracting Out

Stop Contracting Out

The fight against the privatization of Civilian Defence Services forms a key pillar of the work we do at UNDE.

The Contracting Out of Public Service Work to the Private Sector is part of longstanding pattern of management decisions being made within the Department of National Defence (DND) that have caused severe understaffing on Canada’s military bases, damaged local economies, and subjected workers to injury, illness and numerous health and safety risks due to substandard facilities maintenance on military bases; all thanks to a needless and unethical reliance on Private Contractors to perform Public Sector work.

UNDE’s Message to the Department is clear:  Canada’s Defence Services are Public Services. When the Department of National Defence contracts out civilian defence work, our tax dollars go to waste.

These days, contracting out is rampant, and DND chronically under-budgets for staff on military bases while diverting funds to the budget for private contracts. Rather than fill the vacant public service positions, they choose to pay contractors a premium, and this is done without adequate justification, planning or oversight, and resulting in unacceptable outcomes for Canadians.

There is no evidence that the Department conducts cost-benefit analyses to demonstrate that contracting out is preferable to hiring public servants; transparency and accountability are missing. In our recent report, Uncover the Cost, we presented a number of cases where contracting out to private companies cost Canadians significantly more than service provided by public servants, and yielded inferior work. Increasingly, management expresses awareness of this contradiction, yet there has been no change to this troubling trend of paying more for less.

Meanwhile, the communities surrounding Canada’s military bases suffer from the loss of secure, dignified employment, and military bases struggle to operate soundly while understaffed and relying on piecemeal, poorly planned, and excessively costly contracts.

Enough is enough. Canada’s defence program must not rely on the work of contractors who are seemingly accountable to no one and there is no need to continue this wasteful and inefficient practice.

Join UNDE in our efforts to break the pattern of contracting out and hold decision-makers accountable to transparently show that our tax dollars go towards the services we pay for.

 

REPORT CONTRACTING OUT

Report Contracting Out to the UNDE Head Office at [email protected] and provide the following information:

  • Your Name and Contact Information (indicate whether you would like to be contacted for follow-up)
  • Your Member Number, if applicable
  • Description of the workplace issues related to contracting out (ie. health and safety issues, financial waste/overspending, issues with timeliness quality of work, work environment, treatment of employees, etc.)
  • Information about the work impacted (Number of contract employees onsite and type of work they are doing, the number of public servants that would be required to perform the same work and applicable classifications that would do this work, are these public service positions vacant, is there an ongoing issue with staffing, etc.)
  • Information about the private contractor (ie. Company Name, Contract Number, Contract Value, Contract Duration, Was Defence Construction Canada involved, etc.)
  • Documentation related to the issues (ie. documents, emails, spreadsheets, and photos demonstrating the issues caused by contracting out)

Sign the Petition

Stop Contracting Out Brochure (PDF)

Uncover the Costs Report (PDF)

Health and Safety Bulletin (PDF)

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