Toronto — Toronto residents breathed a sigh of relief Sunday — one free of the smell of garbage — when the city's outside workers union announced it would not be going on strike.
“After 103 days of collective bargaining, we are pleased to report we have reached a tentative agreement with the city of Toronto,” Brian Cochrane, the local president for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said at a news conference Sunday.
Toronto Mayor David Miller called the settlement between the city and its outside workers “an enormous achievement.”
The deal, if ratified, means the city will continue to have the services of its outside workers, including garbage collectors, paramedics and pool maintenance workers, for the next four years.
Garbage is piled up on a street in downtown Toronto July 10, 2002. Toronto averted another strike Sunday when a deal was struck between the city and its outside workers. (AP)
Related Articles
City residents have watched the process with trepidation, scared they would have to deal with the smell of garbage wafting over their city for the second time in three years.
Toronto outside workers walked off the job for 16 days in the summer of 2002, leaving piles of foul garbage on street curbs throughout the city.
A strike deadline had been set for Saturday at noon, but was pushed back indefinitely after MR. Cochrane announced the union and the city were close to reaching a deal.
Both Mr. Cochrane and Mr. Miller celebrated the fact that the agreement was reached without any back-to-work legislation or an arbitration process.
“We think it is so crucial that this deal was reached to now cement a relationship with the new city of Toronto that has been severely ruptured,” said Mr. Cochrane.
The two groups negotiated for almost 72 hours straight before the agreement was pounded out. Two strike deadlines passed and were extended. But Mr. Cochrane said the contract was worth the wait.
“Every concern that the union had on the table was addressed either or full or in part,” he said.
Mr. Miller agreed the deal was very fair to workers, but stressed that the city would still be getting its money's worth.
The deal “will allow the city to manage our affairs much more effectively and efficiently over the next four years,” he said, adding no specifics would be released until the contract was ratified.
Mr. Cochrane said a vote would be held on the tentative agreement by the end of the week.
