For two decades, Frank Losak was a waste collection operator with the City of Hamilton until he was fired in July 2016.

He fought the decision and, in March, nearly three years later, a provincial arbitrator ruled the city was justified to terminate him with cause.

Losak was fired for intentionally damaging a dashboard camera in his garbage truck and for lying about it when confronted with the allegation.

He was fired for picking up garbage without authorization at the Italo Canadian Social Club on Sherman Ave. N., where he stopped every morning for a coffee even though the club wasn't on his route.

And he was fired for accepting garbage from people who would bring it to the parking lot next to the Italo Canadian club because they knew he'd be there in his truck every morning.

What Frank Losak wasn't fired for was routinely completing his waste collection route in less than four hours per day.

That, according to the arbitrator's decision, appeared to be an acceptable practice in the eyes of the city.

The arbitrator's findings suggest little changed - at least until 2016 - with the city's waste collection practices for its unionized workers after a 2014 Spectator investigation showed many of them were routinely working as little as five hours per day while being paid for eight hours.

The head of public works, however, says a lot has changed in the waste collection between 2017 and 2019.

The Spectator's 2014 undercover investigation showed that some garbage trucks would dump their loads at the Kenora Avenue transfer station shortly after 11 a.m. and then sit idling for more than a half-hour on a private road near the city's waste facility on Burlington St. E. before clocking out for the day at noon.

It took the public works department five weeks to publicly acknowledge it had a policy allowing city waste collectors to leave early once they finished their duties.

The arbitrator's report in Losak's case suggests the time spent on actual waste collection didn't change following The Spectator's investigation.

Based on evidence from Losak's arbitration hearing, shifts commence at 7 a.m. from the Burlington Street depot and the trucks then disperse around the city to the day's assigned routes.

According to the arbitrator's decision, Losak and his partner "normally finished their assigned collection route by 10:30 - 11 a.m." each day.

Based on the arbitrator's findings, it's possible the actual waste-collection part of a shift for Losak and his partner could be as little as two hours and 50 minutes.

The report states Losak's truck would arrive at the Italo Canadian club parking lot around 11 each morning.

The short amount of time spent on the waste collection route wasn't raised by the city as one of the reasons Losak was fired, even though public works officials conducted surveillance on him and his partner.

The arbitrator's findings appear to suggest the city did make two adjustments to the work day of unionized waste collectors following The Spectator's investigation.

Trucks can't dump their loads at the Kenora transfer station before 1 p.m., and workers can't leave the Burlington Street yard before 2 p.m.

"There is no dispute that there is an unwritten policy which instructs waste collection vehicle operators not to go to the (Kenora) dump before 1 p.m. even if they were finished their collection route before then, something which appears to be quite common," arbitrator George Surdykowski wrote in his decision.

"It is not unusual for waste collection vehicles to start lining up at the dump before 1 p.m.," he wrote.

In fact, the arbitrator's report notes Losak and his partner were typically lined up at the Kenora transfer station between 12:15 and 12:30 p.m. each day and, at times, there were other trucks already ahead of them.

They'd usually dump their load by 1:05 p.m. and be back at the Burlington Street yard between 1:10 and 1:15 p.m.

"Although they are paid to 3 p.m., employees are permitted to leave the yard at (but not before) 2 p.m.," Surdykowski added.

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Losak did not offer a comment to The Spectator.

Dan McKinnon, head of public works for Hamilton, said the waste collection unit has seen a significant change in leadership since the original Spectator investigation, which has led to a greater amount of performance management.

"It's a very different place down there now than it was three or four years ago," McKinnon said.

Between 2017 and 2019, McKinnon noted, the average number of city waste collectors sent out per day has been reduced by about 10 per cent. There has also been a significant reduction in time lost to injuries.

"They have been tweaking the routes to make them more efficient," said McKinnon.

He acknowledged the route system is a challenge in the waste collection unit.

"You establish your routes and you try to figure out what's a humane pace at which these folks can do it, accounting for lunches and breaks," McKinnon said.

"Often, these guys can get it done faster by rushing," he said. "We don't particularly want them rushing.

"That's not healthy but by the nature of the work, there's an inherent incentive to try to go faster because they want to get back sooner."

Hamilton employs a hybrid waste collection system that mixes the public and private sectors. City workers collect household trash and green-cart waste in the lower former city of Hamilton, Dundas, Flamborough and a part of rural Ancaster. GFL, a privately held company, is responsible for blue-box recycling collection for the entire city, as well as the collection of household trash and organic matter in Stoney Creek, Glanbrook, Ancaster and on the Mountain.

At the time of The Spectator's 2014 investigation, GFL waste collectors earned about half to two-thirds the amount earned by the city's collectors. A GFL administrator told The Spectator that a typical work day for the company's employees covering Hamilton routes is between nine and 11 hours.

Shortly after its 2014 undercover investigation, The Spectator obtained data from a Freedom of Information request which showed routes were completed notably quicker on Saturdays following a statutory holiday, when the city's waste collectors are paid time-and-a-half compensation for a full day. Routes were also completed quicker on Fridays compared to Mondays through Thursdays.

The city's contract with GFL expires in 2020. McKinnon said he expects the city's next contract will continue with a public-private mix of operators.

sbuist@thespec.com

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