Sunrise on the city of Winnipeg. Members of Local 500 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees have voted to reject the City of Winnipeg’s recent contract offer.LYLE STAFFORD/The Globe and Mail
Members of Local 500 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees have voted to reject the City of Winnipeg's recent contract offer.
The union representing 4,000 city workers now has a strike mandate, though union officials say that doesn't mean a strike will be held.
Both the city and the union say in news releases that they hope to get back to the bargaining table soon.
The city's latest four-year offer to workers includes a wage freeze in 2017, with increases of one per cent in the next two years and 1.25 per cent in the final year.
CUPE says a strike would impact everything from 311 services, grass cutting in parks, pothole repairs, tree pruning, libraries and summer festivals.
The city says if there is a strike it will continue to provide essential services.
Local 500 president Gord Delbridge says 85 per cent of his members who voted rejected the city's offer.
"Today's strike mandate does not necessarily mean we are going on strike," he says in a release. "Today's strike mandate means that municipal workers did not find the City's proposals acceptable."
The city has said in the event of a strike, garbage would not be affected because it is contracted out.
"The City will continue to provide essential services to the citizens of Winnipeg, including safe drinking water and other public safety measures (Police, Fire, and Paramedics)," the city has said.