Switch to private heat, AC draws fire

The Public Service Alliance of Canada is banding together with several other unions in a campaign to oppose the contracting out of five heating and cooling plant operations in the National Capital Region, which provide service to about 100 buildings, including the Parliamentary Precinct, through about 14 kilometres of underground tunnels. The unions say the federal government is in the process of choosing a corporate consortium to design, finance, build, maintain and operate the plants on a 30-year contract in a public-private partnership. Currently, public service workers, including members of PSAC, operate some of the heating plants. “Trusting the maintenance and operations of this infrastructure to a profit-driven, private consortium, for the next 30 years or more, does not give me confidence that the safety of workers and the public will be the foremost priority,” said Chris Aylward, national president of the PSAC in a statement.