Toronto Garbage Collectors and Other Workers on Strike

Date: June 22, 2009

Source: News Room

City of Toronto, ON garbage collectors, daycare workers and other municipal employees recently went on strike in a contract dispute that could lead to a prolonged shutdown of important services in Canada's largest city; and, just in time for the sweltering days of summer. According to The Globe and Mail, the strike was authorized by officials of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Canada's largest union, with around 590,000 members, after the city and labor negotiators were unable to reach an agreement by Sunday. The city is demanding concessions from the workers, including an end to the practice of "banking" unused sick leave. Meanwhile, the union contends that other unionized public employees in the city, ranging from the parking authority to police and firefighters, have reached agreements with wage increases of at least 3 percent and no concessions. Toronto's garbage collectors along with thousands of other city workers last went on strike for two weeks in the summer of 2002. CUPE city workers in Windsor, Ontario, have been on strike for more than nine weeks.

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