Toronto outside, inside workers in strike position

Work stoppage could affect 26,000 employees

Members of the Toronto Civic Employees Union — Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees — gave the union a strong mandate in support of a work stoppage.

The union represents 6,000 outside workers in Toronto, including garbage collectors. The employees join the city’s 20,000 inside workers — represented by CUPE Local 79 — in their authorization of a walkout if a new contract isn’t reached.

The contracts for both unions expired on Dec. 31.

According to the union, the workers’ support of a strike is crucial in light of the city’s recent move to request a provincial conciliator.

“We are concerned that the city is choosing to take an aggressive approach to bargaining,” said Matt Alloway, a member of the CUPE bargaining committee.

“With this mandate, we are confident that we are in a position to negotiate an agreement that can strengthen the city’s services by providing the workers who deliver those services with good, stable jobs.”

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