Inside workers reach tentative deal with City of Toronto

CUPE Local 79 announces that a four-year agreement has been reached, averting a strike or lockout before March Break.

Thestar.com
March 3, 2016
By Jennifer Pagliaro

After days of stalled negotiations with the possibility of labour disruptions looming ahead of March Break, the City of Toronto and the union representing the city’s inside workers have struck a tentative deal on a new contract.

The union announced that a four-year agreement had been reached before 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. CUPE Local 79 represents more than 20,000 inside workers including childcare, recreation and planning staff.

With the deal, a work-to-rule campaign that had employees only performing their minimum contracted duties and taking breaks en masse will end.

“In every round of bargaining, you set out to get the best deal possible at that time, under those circumstances,” CUPE Local 79 president Tim Maguire said in an emailed statement. “While this was a very difficult round of negotiations, we believe we have secured the best possible collective agreements for our members, ensuring they will continue to be able to deliver the great services Toronto residents depend on.”

Earlier this week, the city ratified a deal with Local 416's outside workers, adding extra pressure for Local 79 to get a deal.

A strike or lockout, which both sides were in a legal position to force, would have made registration for the city’s summer camps this Saturday impossible and threatened to cancel March Break programs that thousands of parents rely on for child care.

Union leadership and the city were essentially in a standoff over the weekend when talks broke down. After the city presented the union with what they later called their “last offer,” the city blamed union negotiators for dismissing the provincially-appointed mediator and essentially ending negotiations. Maguire later called that a misunderstanding, saying they believed there was no more room to bargain.

This week, Maguire said they were providing a response to that “last offer,” saying major sticking points remained: a wage increase below the rate of inflation, shift scheduling, and the city wanting to end a provision known as “jobs for life” that would allow the contracting out of jobs. Those terms were the same as what was offered and accepted by Local 416 members.

On Tuesday, Mayor John Tory repeated that the city was only willing to continue talking if it was “productive.” He said he was “very concerned” about the union’s response to the city’s offer.

But movement overnight led to the now tentative agreement, a sudden change both sides have refused to comment on ahead of Local 79 members ratifying the deal.

Local 79 represents four separate bargaining units. A release said the contract for part-time employees working in long-term care facilities, who do not have the right to strike, will be sent to interest arbitration because “outstanding issues remain.”

Maguire is expected to speak to reporters today at 10 a.m. after which the mayor is expected to hold a news conference.