TORONTO – The City of Toronto announced that it will shut down its services on Tuesday, January 1, 2019, to hold a “transition day” for its roughly 300,000 employees.
While a tentative deal has been reached to avert a strike by Toronto City Council workers — the largest collective bargaining dispute in municipal history — the city still announced on Friday evening that city workers will not be paid for the day.
Toronto employees are scheduled to vote on the tentative deal on Tuesday, and it is unclear if the government will move forward with its plan to cut the public’s contribution to the CUPE Local 416 pension.
The planned January 1 strike is the latest development in a long and tumultuous fight over CUPE Local 416’s demands for higher wages and pension benefits. The tentative deal brought some stability to the fight, but also a lingering uncertainty about the pension.
“I’ve been told by a member of the bargaining team that management has dropped its opposition to a strike” – Union official #TOpoli #peeldet pic.twitter.com/9GYRiLdx8Q — Arjun Nanavati (@asnanavati) November 3, 2018
Tensions have been high ever since city council members voted last month to raise public employees’ pension contributions to 11 percent from 5 percent, a deal struck with the help of Employment Minister Caroline Mulroney, a Conservative Party stalwart and daughter of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
As negotiations over the deal were ongoing, Mayor John Tory had informed a Local 416 member that City Hall management dropped its “opposition” to a strike, according to a Local 416 press release. That union, representing many Toronto workers, such as city paramedics, the public library’s own IT department, and workers in the city’s trash, building inspection and planning departments, voted to strike on October 31. The group has held two strikes since 2016.
“I’ve been told by a member of the bargaining team that management has dropped its opposition to a strike,” the union’s head, Tim Maguire, told CTV News. He also said the union was considering whether to begin legal action against the government for refusing to cut workers’ pensions.
On Friday, The Globe and Mail reported that the city is still planning to cut pension contributions, putting the next question whether City Hall will be able to pass a bill to limit the union’s wage increase demands.
A spokesperson for Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the government is prepared to hold an emergency vote on proposed cuts to the public pension plans.
Local 416 represents about 22,000 workers in the city of Toronto, an organization the Globe and Mail said is among the highest paid in Canada. The Toronto Sun reported that workers in Local 416 average $87,000 in pension payments a year, a number the Toronto Sun said was believed to be higher than for municipal employees throughout the entire country.
Read the full story at The Globe and Mail.
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