City Hall to reduce hours, custodial cleaning in budget cut that blindsided Toronto councillors
CTV
A plan to scale back the operating hours and custodial cleaning of Toronto City Hall and other civic centres has some councillors crying foul — insisting the cut was buried in the budget and unknowingly passed.
A plan to scale back the operating hours and custodial cleaning of Toronto City Hall and other civic centres has some councillors crying foul — insisting the cut was buried in the budget and unknowingly passed.
“Instead of hidden in some buried appendix somewhere in the strong-mayor budget, this should have actually been brought to our attention right up front,” Councillor Josh Matlow told CTV News Toronto Saturday.
In a memo obtained by CTV News, facilities management directors advise the president of CUPE Local 79, which represents municipal cleaning staff, that “Corporate Real Estate Management is making adjustments in accordance with the 2023 Mayor’s Budget” and the “changes will affect custodial staffing hours.”
The letter says that the shifts of certain custodial staff will be capped at 30 hours a week, effective April 19, 2023.
Scaling back cleaning services is risky, Board of Health chair Chris Moise said Saturday, on the heels of a pandemic.
“The staff right now who are doing the work are working diligently and working hard to keep us safe,” Moise said. “We need to do our part as staff to make sure that they are given the tools that they need, that includes the proper hours.”
Under the plan, which is estimated to save $512,200 according to budget documents, the weekday hours of City Hall, Metro Hall, and the Scarborough, East York, Etobicoke, and North York civic centres will be reduced, and the centres will be closed Sundays, effective March 15, 2023.
