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Garbage Strike 2009
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Talks collapse, city workers strike
COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR
Mark Ferguson, president of Local 416 of Canadian Union of Public Employees, speaks at a press conference in the Delta hotel about ongoing labour talks with the City of Toronto. (June 21, 2009) Print
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What would be affected Map: Where to take garbage Sick pay dicey issue for walkout Midnight strike deadline 'firm' Royson: How can Miller cry poor? City's contingency plans PHOTOS: 2002 Garbage strike Garbage pickup, daycare cancelled as union and city hit impasse on concessions, sick pay and wage increases
Jun 21, 2009 11:59 PM
Comments on this story (200)
John Spears
CITY HALL BUREAU
Thirty thousand Toronto municipal workers walked off the job after midnight Monday after union leaders accused the city of "putting the knife" to its employees.
Both indoor and outdoor workers started setting up picket lines after five months of fruitless negotiations and a final day of increasingly bitter rhetoric.
Angry union leaders accused the city of not making a serious effort to bring talks to a conclusion.
The city's last-ditch offer – putting new monetary proposals on the table at about 9 p.m. – wasn't enough. About midnight, Mark Ferguson, president of the outside workers local, and Ann Dembinski, president of the inside workers local, announced they were pulling their members off the job.
City spokesperson Kevin Sack insisted a strike is unnecessary.
"While the city does not want a strike, the city cannot simply agree to all the union requests to avoid one," Sack said.
On strike are about 24,000 inside workers – half full time, half part time – who are members of Local 79 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and about 6,200 outside workers, members of CUPE's Local 416.
Dembinski, president of Local 79, said the city's "stubborn unwillingness" to pull what the union views as major concessions off the table, and to agree to wage increases in line with other municipal workers, was forcing the union to strike. She zeroed in on the city's proposal to change the workers' sick pay system, which would eliminate the current practice that allows employees to bank unused sick time.
She blamed Mayor David Miller directly for the impasse.
"The mayor has been using the recession as an excuse to rip our collective agreement to pieces," Dembinski told reporters.
City negotiators are following the mayor's lead, she said.
"At the negotiating table, the city is putting the knife to us," she said. "Local 79 members have two choices: Roll over and play dead, or fight to defend themselves. We have been put in this position by the City of Toronto.
"If this turns into a strike, it's not because of union demands. Let me be clear: It is because of the City of Toronto's demands to rip things away from us," Dembinski insisted.
Earlier in the day, Mark Ferguson, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416, representing outside workers, sounded a similarly gloomy note.
"At this point, things don't look very good," Ferguson told a morning news conference.
He criticized city negotiators for dragging their feet during talks, saying that six months should be enough time to reach a deal.
Ferguson said the union had been willing to talk through the night both Friday and Saturday, but city negotiators declined. "That, in my mind, sends a strong message that they're not prepared to do a deal."
Ferguson said the union wouldn't extend talks past midnight last night, however: "The deadline is firm. In our minds, there is no reason to extend the deadline at this point. We are prepared to negotiate a deal, but, if the deal isn't there at midnight, our members are going on strike." City spokesman Kevin Sack said that creates difficulties.
"The bargaining process must be allowed to work, even if that takes some extra time," Sack said.
He told an early afternoon news conference that the city still believes a strike is unnecessary.
"While the city does not want a strike, the city cannot simply agree to all the union requests to avoid one," Sack said.
While the union complained that city negotiators had been unwilling to work through the night, Sack said negotiations take time and must be carefully considered.
"We believe that a few extra days, if it's required to reach an agreement, makes sense."
The issue of sick days remains a key sticking point. The city wants to replace the current system, which allows union employees to bank unused sick time and cash it out when they quit or retire. An employee with 25 years service can get up to six months' pay on departure, a future cost the city says is worth $249 million.
But Local 416's Ferguson said sick pay is by no means the only issue.
"We have concessions on the table (from the city) that would see senior employees laid off while junior employees continue to work," Ferguson said. "(There are) proposals ... that would see people who have worked in jobs for many years not being able to qualify for those jobs in future.
"Certainly sick time is an issue, but there are many issues. They are all outstanding issues at this point."
Miller was being kept in touch with talks "constantly," Sack said, but wasn't taking an active role at either bargaining table.
The outside workers were holding talks at the Delta Hotel in Scarborough at Highway 401 and Kennedy Rd., while the inside workers were negotiating at the Sheraton Hotel across from City Hall.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/654346 |
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| She_Fitz |
I am under the impression that the biggest issue how sick days are allocated and banked.
We went through this at work 5 or 6 years ago.
We could previously bank sick days and cash them out at the end.
We switched and I lost 30 days and had no option to strike.
The rest of the world has been changing the way they do business I don't think that unions should be exempt. |
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| patpicos |
| quote: | | The issue of sick days remains a key sticking point. The city wants to replace the current system, which allows union employees to bank unused sick time and cash it out when they quit or retire. An employee with 25 years service can get up to six months' pay on departure, a future cost the city says is worth $249 million. |
Banking sick days is absolutely ridiculous. They are not an entitlement. Their purpose are for when you are SICK, not to give you a vacation when you retire.
Damn unions thinking everything is owed to them! |
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| kaniz |
The ability to bank until you retire then cash out is ridiculous. I could see banking a % of days until Y month into the new year - sort of like Vacation Day rollover. But being able to do it until you retire? that's nuts.
What's the point of having loads of Sick Days, if when after you use 8 of them you get reprimanded and put onto an attendance program? And isn't the purpose of things like Short/Long term disability supposed to cover things like when a major sickness / injury comes up and you need more time off work than your usual sick days can cover? |
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| She_Fitz |
When we made the change our company also beefed up the short term disability program. We now get 100% for the first 4 months of leave.
I think the union will not have the sympathy they think they will.. I hope the city doesn't cave just because it gets to smelly. |
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| StereoPrincess |
what i am pissed about now is the green bin garbage. they get us used to using it and now the ing city will rot within 2 days since the concentrated "green" garbage is in those tiny little bins.
and they want us to bring garbage somewhere? lol. like i have the means of bringing garbage to keele and eglington. wtf? |
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| English Rachel |
| quote: | Originally posted by She_Fitz
I am under the impression that the biggest issue how sick days are allocated and banked.
We went through this at work 5 or 6 years ago.
We could previously bank sick days and cash them out at the end.
We switched and I lost 30 days and had no option to strike.
The rest of the world has been changing the way they do business I don't think that unions should be exempt. |
Agreed. Ridiculous. Give their jobs to people who are out of work at the moment. |
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| Prometheus Xex |
| quote: | Originally posted by devnull
Banking sick days is absolutely ridiculous. They are not an entitlement. Their purpose are for when you are SICK, not to give you a vacation when you retire.
Damn unions thinking everything is owed to them! |
These aren't treated as sick days, they're treated as extra un-worked pay days. That's like working 52 weeks in a year, but OWED 55 weeks. Pretty sweet deal I'd say. Also, when you get your sick days off enough to need all those sick days, you'd better have doctors notes. And this about banking... crap. When the year is over... it's over. No banking. That just makes it OWED pay. |
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| The Ear |
| quote: | Originally posted by English Rachel
Agreed. Ridiculous. Give their jobs to people who are out of work at the moment. |
^5.
It's time to bust another union. In fact, it's time to bust every last one of the public sector unions as not one of them serves any other purpose than to extort more and more from those who are not in the union, namely the majority of tax payers, which in my eyes effectively renders these fuckers all guilty of a form of racketeering. |
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| rabbitjoker |
| I feel like going and dumping my green bin at their picket lines. |
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