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CUPE 416 Says It Would Accept Three-Year Wage Freeze
Announcement comes one day after City says negotiations have broken down.
Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE 416, announced today that the workers he represents would be willing to accept a three-year freeze on wages—which, he said, would save the City of Toronto $8.5 million a year in labour costs. CUPE 416 represents the City’s so-called outside workers—including paramedics and staff who deal with parks, road maintenance, and social housing. Yesterday the City of Toronto announced that negotiations with CUPE 416 had broken down and requested that the province issue a “no board” report, which if granted would mean the City could lock workers out, or that workers would be in a legal strike position, in as soon as 17 days. Today’s announcement by Ferguson is clearly aimed at demonstrating, very publicly, that the union is negotiating seriously and willing to make concessions in order to keep talks going. The City, meanwhile, is focusing less on wages and much more on job security provisions which prevent it from easily outsourcing jobs to the private sector.
The Ontario Labour Board, over the passed few years, has granted every no board request that it has received, so it’s not clear that CUPE’s move today will alter the course of events with regards to a lockout. The bigger question, for both the union and the municipal government, and in the aftermath of a very fraught city workers strike in 2009, is to what extent each side is seen by Torontonians to be negotiating in good faith, and taking a reasonable stance towards the role of public labour in government.