Winnipeg garbage contractor under investigation

Winnipeg’s garbage collection contractor is under investigation by provincial labour officials.

A provincial spokesperson confirmed in an email Monday “Employment Standards is currently investigating a complaint against Emterra.” Officials won’t go into detail about the nature of the complaint but the email adds, “Any employee who believes they are owed monies from their employer has the right to file a complaint with Employment Standards.”

Emterra Environmental has been scrambling since October 1st to get its garbage and recycling crews on schedule. The city has been bombarded with thousands of complaints about overdue collection. Emterra crews have remained on the road late at night and throughout the weekends in an effort to get caught up.

When contacted by Global News Monday, a spokesperson for Emterra refused to comment on the investigation but denied breaking any labour rules in the rush to get caught up. “We follow applicable employment standards in all provinces,” said Pauline Leung.

In a statement Monday city officials gave their latest update on how Emterra is doing:

“Over the last week, the City has continued to evaluate the performance of Emterra in meeting its contractual obligations for collection services for garbage, recycling and yard waste. There were improvements over the past week, however, collection services are still not to the level that is required by the contract,” a city spokesperson says in the emailed statement.

The city has warned Emterra could face financial penalties or even lose the contract.

Emterra serves about 190,000 Winnipeg households with the automated rolling garbage and recycling cart collection system that went city-wide October 1st. The company has about 80 trucks and more than 100 employees operating them.