Striking Toronto workers reach tentative deals
Last Updated: Monday, July 27, 2009 | 9:55 PM ET
CBC News
Deals have been reached that could end the strike by Toronto's garbage collectors and other municipal workers. (Canadian Press) Toronto's striking inside and outside workers reached tentative agreements with the city Monday, deals that could end a lengthy garbage strike in Canada's largest city.
Officials with CUPE Local 79 and TCEU Local 416 have confirmed ratification votes will take place on Wednesday, said Toronto Mayor David Miller. Union officials said pickets would remain in place until the deals are approved.
Miller called the announcement "very good news for Torontonians" who have been watching garbage pile up for five weeks. Many other services, including city-run daycares, ambulances and applications for building permits, have also been affected since the strike began on June 22.
Miller thanked Torontonians for their "patience and co-operation during very difficult circumstances."
Miller said he will call a special city council meeting as soon as the agreements are ratified by the unions so councillors can consider the deals. Miller said that meeting could take place as early as Friday.
Toronto city manager Joe Pennachetti said once the agreements are ratified, residents should check the city's website or call Access Toronto at 416-338-0338 to find out when garbage pickup and other city services will get back to normal.
Pennachetti said "additional patience and understanding" will be needed as workers gradually return to their jobs.
Unions announce deals
The first word of a deal came Monday morning when Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 president Mark Ferguson said outside workers had reached a tentative agreement.
Hours later, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 79 president Ann Dembinski said inside workers had struck a deal.
"We look forward to ratifying the agreements and getting back to work, providing services to the citizens of Toronto," she said. "This is a deal that I think that my membership will be happy with."
One of the main issues was whether workers should retain their banked sick days.
Neither Miller nor Dembinski would say whether the workers would get to keep their banked sick days, adding they wouldn't comment on the deals until they were ratified.
But Miller said the collective agreements are consistent with other settlements that the city has negotiated recently and that "we achieved our goals, so that's good for us."
Ferguson said Local 416 reached a deal early Monday when the city removed "the last concession" from the table. However, a Toronto councillor told CBC News on Monday that he believes the city has managed to get an agreement along the lines of the offer presented publicly by Miller more than two weeks ago.
Labour relations strained: unions
Both the city and union negotiating teams seemed to refocus their efforts after a threat on Friday by Ferguson, who gave the city until midnight Sunday night to come up with a deal or the talks would break off.
Combined, the unions represent about 30,000 workers — although about 6,000 of those workers remained on the job because their jobs are deemed essential.
The unions were looking for wage increases in line with what other city workers have received over the past year, but Miller said throughout the negotiations that generous increases were not an option.
Earlier this month, Miller released the city's proposed deal, which included a wage settlement totalling about seven per cent over four years, as well as changes to the sick-leave provisions of the existing contract.
Both Ferguson and Dembinski said the strike has set back labour relations by decades.
During the labour disruption, all 57 city-run daycare centres closed, ferry service to the Toronto islands stopped, and recreation programming and park maintenance ended.
With files from The Canadian Press
