The bidding process to take over Windsor, Ont.'s garbage collection was "hopelessly tainted" and could lead to lawsuits, the head of a local union warned Monday.

Jim Wood, the president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 82, also accused the winning bidder, Turtle Island Recycling Corp., of misrepresenting its legal past in its tender submission and called on city councillors to disqualify it.

Ted Manziaris, president of Turtle Island Recycling, is seen holding a recycling container in Toronto on July 25, 2007. (Hudson's Bay Company/Canadian Press)"When someone lies to you I guess that's ground right there for disqualification," Wood told reporters.

"Two other bidders were disqualified for irregularities in their tenders," he said. "Should [city] council award the contract to Turtle Island, either of them ... will have a strong legal argument that the process was hopelessly tainted."

But councillors are showing few signs of bending to Wood's demands. A clear majority of councillors — eight to three, including Mayor Eddie Francis — voted to award the contract to Turtle Island on July 12.

Reconsideration would require the support of seven of ten councillors.

Missing details found

City administrators investigated Turtle Island Recycling Corp. over concerns it had not provided full disclosure about lawsuits it was involved in.

Under the terms of the bidding process, all companies vying to collect Windsor's garbage had to come clean on litigation in which they were involved over the past five years.

The review did find that the Toronto-based Turtle Island had left out some details in its bid about a minor lawsuit in which it was not held responsible.

Those details would have cost the company points but wouldn't have disqualified it, according to Helga Reidel, the city's chief administrative officer.

'We certainly don't believe there's anything intentionally hidden.'—Windsor chief administrative officer Helga Reidel

But the 2006 claim, which pre-dated the five-year time frame, was "what we consider of a relatively minor nature," Reidel said.

"We certainly don't believe there's anything intentionally hidden," she told CBC News. "We believe that the CEO of Turtle Island was quite forthcoming."

The city hopes to save $9 million over seven years by outsourcing its garbage collection.

It has said the division's 50 employees, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 82, won't lose their jobs but will be placed in other positions or allowed to retire.

The company will start collecting the city's garbage and recycling materials next year.