Union representatives for the City’s 23,000 inside workers (CUPE Local 79) have walked away from the bargaining table after receiving a final offer from the municipality. But it isn’t clear how far away they have gone. Mayor Tory (above left) says the union has dismissed the idea of a mediator but CUPE says it hasn’t. That’s Union President Tim Macguire (right). The final offer placed on the table Saturday was intended by the City said to address workplace conditions and job security which the union has made an issue. The state of these negotiations have all the signs of last-minute posturing on the part of CUPE. A “final offer” in such negotiations is normally taken to mean the union must decide whether to accept or go on strike. Local 79 seems to playing for time Sunday morning. It is hard for most people, knowing the high quality jobs of most of these employees, to imagine CUPE would take workers out on a stoppage. But who knows.
BEST TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Mayor John Tory spoke Sunday urging the union to return to the table and reminding them they have the “best terms and conditions of employment available in either the private or the public sectors anywhere in the province”. Tory said shortly after the city tabled a new offer to the union, which represents more than 20,000 inside municipal workers, the union shut down the proposal. “Without warning or explanation, CUPE Local 79 released the province’s lead mediator, who has been working with our group, the two sides, for the past eight days,” Tory said.
