Northstar Construction was recently awarded the town contract to handle street sanding and Arctic Tire won the town's snow-removal contract. Both duties were previously performed by Public Works staff.
Council decided to privatize the department last month, arguing it would save taxpayers money. Four employees lost their jobs as a result.
Public outcry at the perceived ill treatment of the workers followed, and council passed another motion to help the employees find new work.
The motion gave special consideration to companies bidding on the work if they agreed to hire the former employees for the jobs. Both companies indicated in writing to the town they would hire three former employees.
But according to former employees Hank Rogers, Roy Ipana and Albert Bernhardt, they haven't even been called to work, despite a heavy snowfall which had the companies working hard to clear and sand the roads.
"Nobody's called yet, and there's lots of snow on the ground.... I don't know what's going on," said Rogers. "They take away our jobs, and then after they get the contract, they turn around and hire their own men back to do it.
"There's no room for us ... they've got a permanent staff already," said Rogers. "They used our names just to get the contracts, maybe."
Mayor Tom Zubko said the thrust of council's motion was to ensure that any snow removal or sanding work would be performed by the former employees. Zubko said he would investigate the situation further.
Arctic Tire's Brian McCarthy reads the situation differently. McCarthy said the agreement he signed with the town was that his company would hire the workers only when his own staff was incapable of handling the load. McCarthy said he already has employees capable of doing the work, and it wouldn't be fair to freeze them out of employment. "It would not be good if I just skidded them," said McCarthy.
McCarthy said that during peak times he may need some of the former employees to fill the gap. During the recent snowfall, one former works employee -- Rick Lindsay -- was called to help out.
Former works employee Roy Ipana said he feels "pretty rotten" about the situation. "I don't know what to say," he said. "I see some other people doing the work. They said they'd call, and then it was just left like that."
Northstar Construction manager Gordon Campbell was not available for comment by press time.
Zubko said council did not include penalties in the motion to levy against the companies if they did not hire the employees, as promised. Was that a mistake? "I don't know," said Zubko.
But he did say the town had a "number of ways we can put pressure" on the companies to ensure the employees are utilized. "I would expect them to have the opportunity to do some of that work."