Reasons for delayed road maintenance should be obvious: CUPE

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - July 22, 2015) - Halifax councillors questioning road maintenance should already know the answers, CUPE 108 Vice-president Joel LeClerc said today.

"When Council decided to reduce the workforce, they decided to reduce the amount of work that gets done," LeClerc said. "That should be obvious."

At last night's meeting of the Regional Municipality of Halifax Council meeting, a number of councillors complained that line painting in their neighbourhoods hasn't been completed. They claimed that line painting is further behind every year.

LeClerc pointed out that the number of employees dedicated to line painting has been reduced through attrition.

"We have five fewer workers on our road crews," LeClerc said. "That's how many workers you need to run a line painting crew."

"On a night of good weather, we have equipment sitting unused because we don't have the staff to run it," he said.

Added to the reduced workforce, LeClerc pointed out that the late snow melt delayed the beginning of the operation, and rainy weather has delayed it further. As well, workers have increased responsibilities that keeps them from getting the line painting done.

"We don't just paint lines," LeClerc said. "With all of the new festivals and special events, we have new tasks each year regarding road closures. And the RMH has increased the paperwork, too, so we have less time to get the job done."

"Council has created this problem, and councillors made these decisions," LeClerc said. "If the public wants to know why work isn't getting done, they should speak firmly with their councillors," he said.