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Vancouver's long, bitter municipal strike was plunged into chaos Tuesday night, as one civic local accepted a deal to return to work, while another also voted in favour but not strongly enough to count.

At the same time, the city's 800 striking library workers strongly rejected the package recommended last week by veteran mediator Brian Foley.

The bizarre situation focused on members of Local 1004, the so-called outside workers who include garbage collectors and parks maintenance staff.

The local's parks branch voted 58 per cent in favour of Mr. Foley's recommendations. The vote by Local 1004's city branch was 57-per-cent yes. However, virtually alone among unions anywhere in Canada, Local 1004 has a by-law requiring a two-thirds vote in favour to accept a new contract. Their vote yesterday fell short.

Local leaders, who had called for a no vote on Mr. Foley's proposals, quickly called for an emergency meeting with city of Vancouver negotiators to try to resolve the matter.

Local 1004 president Mike Jackson claimed the deal didn't go through by the necessary two-thirds majority because it fell short of the deal won by outside workers in neighbouring municipalities.

"After almost three months on strike, it is an insult to be offered less than other civic workers in the region," he said.

Mr. Foley proposed a five-year wage increase of 17.5 per cent, a $1,000 signing bonus, a $1-an-hour trades adjustment, whistleblower and harassment protection, and six months' notice of any contracting out affecting members of Local 15, representing inside workers.

Members of Local 15, the largest of the three striking locals, voted 73 per cent to accept Mr. Foley's recommendations and return to work.

City council is scheduled to consider the proposed settlement terms later today.

If council accepts the deal, inside workers could be back on the job as early as tomorrow. But their leaders have said they will not cross any picket lines set up by those who remain on strike.

The results of union balloting by the more than 5,000 striking workers disclosed a huge fissure in union solidarity that has lasted until now throughout the 82-day walkout, the second largest in civic history.

The most resounding vote was the 78 per cent rejection by library workers on their first strike ever. They are demanding pay equity to overcome what they say are gender-based wage disparities. Mr. Foley tried to reduce gaps he saw in their wage rates by proposing about a 4-per-cent adjustment covering 300 of the 800 employees on strike.

The announcement of the rejection of the settlement proposals brought cheers from workers gathered at the downtown central branch of Vancouver's library system.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Foley's recommendations do not meet the needs of our workers," CUPE Local 391 vice-president Ed Dickson told reporters as library workers huddled around him.

Still, he said, the recommendations could be the basis for an eventual deal.

"More work is required," he said, referring to a need for progress on pay equity, benefits and provisions for part-time workers who make up 49 per cent of the work force.

Mr. Dickson rejected a reporter's suggestion that library workers won't get a better deal than other civic workers, insisting the union went out for its issues and will settle them.

He said the mediator's suggestion the strike could drag on to 2008 was merely an opinion and not relevant to the talks ahead.

"I don't believe Mr. Foley's crystal ball is better than ours on when we're going to go back to work, but I do know that clearly [his deal] wasn't acceptable to our members here today," he said.

Local 15 president Paul Faoro said he was proud of union members "who have stood so strong, against such odds, for a reasonable contract for themselves and future city employees. It takes courage to stand up for your principles."

In a release, the local's negotiating committee said that Mr. Foley's recommendations were acceptable to inside workers because they were minus "the laundry list of concessions" demanded by the city, while also addressing most of the local's key issues.

The clash between city locals raised the prospect of continued disruption, as workers who might vote to end their walkout would respect the picket lines of those who remained out.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said little as the voting was under way to try to end the strike that has suspended garbage collection and closed libraries since July. He did issue a statement to thank Mr. Foley for his service, and urged all elected officials to remain tight-lipped until the voting process was over.

But a councillor with the minority Vision Vancouver party couldn't resist a jab at Mr. Sullivan, who has been criticized for his handling of the situation.

"We believe Foley's recommendations are a good basis for a settlement," said George Chow, chair of the Vision caucus. "Confrontational tactics by the mayor have not worked up until now and won't work going forward. We need to show commitment to a fair settlement."

Mr. Chow said he was hoping Mr. Foley would remain engaged in talks if either union rejects the package.

There has been little comment from outside workers to explain their opposition to the agreement, but librarians on the picket line yesterday pointed largely to pay equity.

At the central branch of Vancouver's public library system yesterday, some librarians said they hoped for a rejection of the deal, continuing the solidarity they said has kept the 800 workers united through near 12 weeks off the job.

"I am hoping we get a really, really high No vote," said Virginia Patrick, a part-time auxiliary worker who has spent 20 years in the system.

Ms. Patrick, 62, said she was dismayed by the lack of proposed action on pay equity issues in the mediator's recommendations, but also expressed concerns about proposals for part-timers' rights, and job security for contracting out.

"It's really funny in 2007 that [pay equity] could be considered revolutionary or unacceptable," she said, noting the library system's "female-dominated work force" start four pay grades below the largely male ranks of outside workers.

"[It's] just unconscionable. There's no real way to say that's okay or to ignore it."

Ms. Patrick said many library workers are suffering financially, dipping into a hardship fund to help cover loans, grocery vouchers and transit tickets.

"A lot of people are really hurting, but I don't know. I just don't sense that even those people can accept these recommendations."

Fellow library worker Johan Axen, 38, agreed. "I hope we say no," he said. "There wasn't even some, 'Throw us a bone' in terms of language that can say we'll look into pay equity — form a committee. Nothing of this sort. I think people really feel disrespected."

A yes vote, he said, would have rendered the ordeals of the past dozen weeks as "a waste of time," though he expected workers would accept the result. "I don't think it will be yes, but if it is, we just have to maintain our solidarity."