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TORONTO, Ont. City of Toronto outside workers, members of Toronto Civic Employees Union, CUPE Local 416, have voted 89% to give their negotiating committee a strike mandate in a vote conducted over two days this week.
We will be going back to the table with a clear message from the membership, said Local 416 President Mark Ferguson. The City must take its 118 pages of concessions off the table.
Most of the concessions the city has proposed do not cost money, Ferguson said. In fact, monetary issues such as wages have not yet been addressed in negotiations.
We all know that public services are an important part of the economic recovery, Ferguson said. The services our members provide are one of the best bargains Toronto residents will ever get.
It’s time for the city’s negotiators to recognize that, to stop trying to take away what we have managed to gain through negotiations, a strike in 2002 and rulings by independent arbitrators.
Ferguson said the Local 416 negotiating committee is committed to working toward a negotiated settlement and to trying to avoid a strike. However, he said, the union will not negotiate take-aways.
CUPE Local 79, representing City inside workers, is also at the bargaining table and has scheduled a strike vote for Sunday, May 24, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute.
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For more information, contact:
Pat Daley, CUPE Communications, 416-616-6142
