At a news conference Sunday afternoon, CUPE 79 president Tim Maguire said talks were “ongoing” and if needed, negotiations would continue past midnight, but that workers were ready to implement the job action if “significant progress” wasn’t made.
However, at a second conference at 11 p.m., Maguire said the union was “disappointed” with the pace of negotiations and that meetings had ended for the night.
“Local 79 will begin a work-to-rule campaign,” Maguire said. “We haven’t seen significant movement on key issues,” including job security and job stability, he said.
In a statement sent shortly after the first conference, Mayor John Tory said he was “disappointed” that Maguire had threatened job action, and said the city was committed to achieving a resolution.
“I am disappointed that Mr. Maguire has chosen to threaten to escalate this unnecessary job action,” said Tory. “Such an escalation will not assist the efforts being made by the city and the provincial conciliators to conclude a collective agreement.”
A work-to-rule campaign will not disrupt city services, Maguire explained, but workers would take the breaks they’re legally entitled to, co-ordinate breaks and decline any work outside of their immediate job descriptions.
Currently, workers commonly skip breaks or take very short ones, or “go home late and work for free and do so many things above and beyond the call of duty,” Maguire said, adding that “they won’t be doing those” on Monday.
Local 79 represents 23,100 employees including child care and shelter workers, nurses, cleaners and planners. CUPE Local 416, representing the city’s outside workers, were negotiating alongside Local 79 but struck a deal last week.
Negotiations are expected to resume Monday.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com/
Author: Jackie Hong, Noor Javed
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