Toronto labour negotiations CUPE 416

City of Toronto responds to CUPE 416 wage-freeze offer

Let the public bargaining begin! On the heels of CUPE Local 416's public offer to freeze its wages for the next three years, the City of Toronto has responded with a new offer that I'm guessing won't do much to get the union excited about the prospects of banging out a new contract anytime soon.

According to a press release distributed by the city, the following concessions are the centrepiece of the new offer:

  • it provides for the continuation of employment security in regards to contracting out for those employees with 25 years or more of seniority,
  • it provides for modest, one-time lump sum wage payments, and
  • it provides for a four-year contract term that seeks to create labour stability for an additional year.

So while Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday says this offer reflects his administration's "continuing commitment to get a negotiated settlement with Local 416 and avoid a labour disruption," the restriction of job security provisions to those who have a minimum of 25 years seniority ain't likely to placate the union.

Similarly, the City isn't taken by the union's latest offer. "Local 416's announcement of a wage freeze does not address those restrictive [job security] provisions, except to maintain them for three more years..." Holyday said.

In other words, a labour disruption looks as likely as ever.

Photo by Neil Ta in the blogTO Flickr pool


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