Toronto council to vote on union deal Wednesday

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ctvtoronto.ca

Date: Wednesday Feb. 15, 2012 11:56 AM ET

Toronto city council has signed off on a deal with the union representing the city's outside workers on Wednesday, officially putting an end to threats of a work stoppage.

Council voted 35-0 in favour of approving the agreement during a special council meeting on Wednesday. Members of CUPE Local 416 voted to ratify the agreement on Monday.

The deal averts a strike or lockout of 6,000 garbage collectors, snow plow operators, paramedics and other outside workers and a disruption of key city services.

Highlights of the new four-year agreement include six per cent in wage improvements, an interest arbitration mechanism for Emergency Medical Services workers and the retention of employment security provisions for permanent employees with 15 years or more of service.

The fate of the agreement was thrown temporarily into flux on Wednesday when council halted the meeting to discuss concerns raised by city paramedics, 90 per cent of whom voted against the agreement.

The paramedics, which are members of CUPE Local 416, had been pushing for essential service status.

While an agreement between CUPE and city negotiators declared paramedics essential, the group was not made a separate bargaining unit ? meaning their fate still remains tied to the union in future contract negotiations.

Under current conditions, Emergency Medical Services can not legally leave the union because they were not given a separate bargaining unit.

Members claim they were misinformed about the conditions of the agreement and have challenged the vote results as a result. Paramedics only make up 18 per cent of the union's 6,000 members.

CUPE Local 416 president Mark Ferguson said the agreement came with "significant compromise from all the members" and that some "very tough choices were made."

The City of Toronto had threatened to impose its own terms if a deal wasn't reached last weekend. CUPE told its members that the agreement came under the threat of layoffs with no grievance procedure, cut benefits and no job security.

With files from CTV Toronto's Natalie Johnson

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Source: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120215/toronto-council-union-cupe-vote-120215/20120215?hub=TorontoNewHome

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