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City of Toronto labour disruption could start February 5

Posted by Robyn Urback / January 19, 2012

17 Comments


The Ontario Ministry of Labour has just issued a "no board" report, meaning Toronto city workers could be locked out or on strike in about two weeks.

The report confirms that negotiations between the City of Toronto and CUPE 416 have effectively broken down and the province will not intervene with a conciliation board in attempt to resolve the issue. The City has been in negotiations with CUPE 416, which represents 6,000 outside workers including garbage collectors, park maintenance staff, and early education workers, over wage and job security concerns.

The City and union are in legal position to issue a labour disruption on February 5.

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17 Comments

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DS / January 19, 2012 at 02:00 pm
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Good! Hire private contractors and be done with unions!
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Miss Kriss replying to a comment from DS / January 19, 2012 at 02:46 pm
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Eat it, DS. Contractors will cost more in the long run.
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Mark/Marc / January 19, 2012 at 06:19 pm
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Tired of the unions living off my taxes!
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Me replying to a comment from DS / January 19, 2012 at 07:04 pm
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Hey DS...still sitting in your mothers basement in week old underwear? Get a job and make something of yourself.
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Jacob / January 19, 2012 at 07:45 pm
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Didn't Rob Ford's supporters swear he wouldn't allow this sort of thing to happen?
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Tanya / January 19, 2012 at 07:49 pm
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I gotta say I'm pretty far left. Ndp voted for pantalone and recognize that ford is a disgusting piece of garbage but I gotta say the more I think about fuck the unions. I realize that they are being fair and that ford is bargaining in bad faith but let's be honest. If these positions get privatized who cares. Half these guys will just apply with whoever gets the contract and do the same job for less but ultimately they are the reason we are stuck with this criminal of a mayor. This fight is exactly what the people elected him for. Cupe had a good thing with ford and they decided to play hardball when times were good for them. It's time they reap what they've sewn and end of the day it will likely cost us less for these same services.
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Tanya / January 19, 2012 at 07:51 pm
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Cupe had a good thing with miller*
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steve replying to a comment from Tanya / January 20, 2012 at 08:00 am
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You do realize that it was Mel Lastman that negotiated 'the jobs for life clause' Miller had to work around it. Please also note that not all public employes have this provision.
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ha replying to a comment from DS / January 20, 2012 at 11:27 am
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You're an idiot.
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foo replying to a comment from Tanya / January 20, 2012 at 11:29 am
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Easy to blame Miller, huh? That clause wasn't even his doing. Do some research. He was a damn sight better than the piece of crap that is currently in charge.
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Miss Kriss replying to a comment from Tanya / January 20, 2012 at 11:40 am
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I get it Tanya, we all do. I'm IN the union and I disagree with some of the provisions. But please don't paint us all with the same brush. As steve rightly pointed out there are a lot of public employees that have no job security, no benefits, no vacation time/pay, and don't even get sick days. Local 79 has thousands of part-time employees at rec centres, seniors homes, shelters, and museums. They're usually under 30 with at least one university degree. We all want a fair deal and we definitely DON'T want a work stoppage. Most of us love serving the public - I certainly do. (Or at least I do when I'm not reading comments sections at the Toronto Sun. Yikes!)
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Tanya / January 20, 2012 at 12:35 pm
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not at all blaming miller. blaming the unions. As far as I'm concerned miller gave this city a major upgrade. again I said I'd vote for him again in a heartbeat and voted pantalone in lieu of miller. What I'm saying is that by striking that summer they drew attention to a situation that really should have been smooth sailing for them. I know that lastman gave them the jobs for life clause, which honestly I wasn't even that against. But they raised a real stink (no pun intended) in 2009 and woke up a lot of fat 'my taxdollar!' idiots who for the first time decided to vote and so we got stuck with this obese trainwreck of a mayor and I think we all know that it is CUPE's fault. So my point is, they made their bed. I'm going to have a hard time taking their side on this. And I am a pro union person all the way.
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Alex / January 20, 2012 at 04:05 pm
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I don't get the jobs for life thing. If it only applies to very few people, then why did it stop them from contracting out garbage for an entire half of the city? I'm glad it did because I think it's dumb to contract out garbage, but I still don't understand the jobs for life thing. If it only applies to a few senior people, then it wouldn't prevent contracting out, and Ford wouldn't care about it and most of the union wouldn't care about it, so why fight over it? I get that it is something to prevent management from firing senior workers because they earn more than a junior worker, but how senior does the person have to be before this kicks in? And does it apply to firing them to replace them only, or does it also apply to firing the person when their job is no longer needed?
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bikeroo replying to a comment from DS / January 24, 2012 at 11:53 am
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Yeah, hire private contractors.

Look how well that worked for YRT. How long was the strike again? 3 months? How well did contracting out to First Canada work out?
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Frustrated with cupe / February 1, 2012 at 07:47 pm
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Is anyone else annoyed that when the union has a cooperative mayor they act like bullies and when we have a bully mayor they get all cooperative? It encourages people to want to support bully lawyers. Had they Judy cooperated when we had a great mayor we wouldn't be in this mess right now...
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Frustrated with cupe / February 1, 2012 at 07:48 pm
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Lawyers=mayors
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Cheryl / February 1, 2012 at 08:13 pm
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The unions have no one to blame for their current unpopularity but themselves, or the garbage workers in particular. If it weren't for the way they acted towards the general public during the garbage strike, then public opinion would not have swayed so far against them. This directly led to Ford's victory on his anti-union platform. I personally saw striking garbage workers making people wait for hours while they only let one person through the picket line every 15 minutes walk up and deposit their trash bags at the temporary drop off sites. If someone tried to walk up before "his turn" or just didn't want to wait at all because they had other things to do, they actually threatened that citizen with physical violence. This behavior by the striking garbage workers frankly pissed off the whole city and people couldn't wait to elect a mayor who promised to privatize city services.
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