Talks with city's outside workers to resume Thursday

Talks will resume Thursday with the city's 530 outside workers to try and reach an agreement on a new contract.

In a news release Monday, Local 4705 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said workers have given the union a strike mandate supported by 80 per cent of members who voted.

"We look forward to sitting down with the employer and working out a settlement with the city that will be acceptable to our members," said Rick Leroux, president of CUPE 4705, in the news release.

The outside workers, including snow plow drivers, road repair workers, arena staff, parks workers and water and waste water staff, voted 64 per cent to reject an earlier tentative agreement that was unanimously recommended by the unions negotiating committee.

But the 970 inside workers, also represented by Local 4705, voted to accept the contract, creating an awkward situation for CUPE.

Calls to Leroux seeking comment haven't been returned, but in the release, he said they have met with the workers to get a better idea of their concerns.

"Last Thursday, the negotiating committee of CUPE 4705 met with our outside members to hear from them about their concerns over the contract offer that was previously rejected in ratification votes," said Leroux.

"While we heard from them about their concerns and answered questions about the issues, the bargaining team explained our next steps. A strike mandate vote was taken, with 80 per cent in favour of job action if talks fail to produce a settlement. This is often part of the bargaining process when talks reach the conciliation stage, as pressure mounts to reach a settlement."

While positioned to strike if necessary, CUPE said the goal was to avoid a work stoppage.

"Nine out of 10 rounds of contract negotiations reach a settlement without a strike or lockout," CUPE National Representative Cora-Lee Skanes said in the release. "We will do our utmost in the upcoming talks to reach a negotiated settlement."

"CUPE 4705 is committed to return to the bargaining table and make every effort to reach a negotiated settlement," added Leroux.

In a recent interview, Kevin Fowke, city’s director of human resources, said the city has an agreement with CUPE not to discuss the terms of the tentative deal.
“You’re best to talk to (CUPE) about that,” Fowke said, when asked what the workers didn’t like about the contract.

“We’ve give CUPE our word that we wouldn’t be discussing the contents of the deal in the media.”

When asked if the inside workers would be entitled to any improvements the outside workers may be able to negotiate, Fowke said it’s too early to speculate on what’s going to happen.

“We’re going to have to get into those discussions, but at this point, I don’t even know what the issues are,” he said. “So I can’t really speculate on whether it would change anybody else’s deal.

“The inside unit has accepted the tentative agreement, so they have a new collective agreement for three years. I don’t imagine there will be any changes to that agreement. That obviously puts some pressure on the outside unit’s bargaining situation. It becomes very awkward for us.”

He said outside and inside workers have negotiated parallel contracts since amalgamation at the turn of the century. Their hourly pay ranges from $13.71 for student workers to $31.04 for tradespeople.

While the rejection of the tentative deal is a setback, Fowke said last time, contracts weren’t settled until June 2010, so they are well ahead of schedule.

The union still doesn’t have a strike mandate and neither side has sought conciliation from a mediator, both key steps before a strike can happen.