Despite the February 5 deadline for an agreement in the labour negotiations between the city and CUPE Local 416, Doug Holyday promises city hall won’t lock out workers when the clock strikes midnight. That’s reassuring news for anyone who enjoys garbage collection and pickup hockey; however, the promise comes with a caveat. The Globe and Mail reports: “Holyday did not rule out a possible lockout beyond February 5, but suggested the city would only take the measure if provoked.” So what we really have here is a small commitment from the city—no weekend lockout—nicely packaged in some clever PR. By suggesting they’ll only lock out workers if provoked, the city has issued a preemptive explanation for a labour stoppage to citizens: CUPE forced our hand. We have to hand it to Holyday and Co. on this one. They’re doing a shrewd job of maintaining the upper hand. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »
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Of course it’s the union’s fault. Most major newspapers say so, except for the dirty rat commies of the Toronto Star.
January 31, 2012 at 4:39 pm | by Joe ToryThe city will lock there workers out they have been planning this for months.
January 31, 2012 at 10:01 pm | by johnKnowing that the city and rob ford would lockout its own employees,Cupe 416 has been putting money aside for each and every employee(strike levy) add in cupe nationals strike pay,cupe workers can last longer then the city ever bargined for. enjoy your 2 percent, we all work outside,weather will not bother us. please enjoy your parks before the garbage builds up. the writing has been on the wall for over a year. WE ARE SET,ARE YOU!
February 1, 2012 at 6:05 pm | by rickumNo money for working people but City Council has enough money set aside for their OWN wage increases!?!?!? The hypocrisy reeks more the garbage strike ever did!
Even the SUN is disgusted for cryin’ out loud!
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/31/toronto-mayor-councillors-getting-pay-hike
February 1, 2012 at 9:17 pm | by DJGIt just blows my mind that the city has no money and wants to let workers go after lengthy service. A person over a certain age has no recourse. Where will someone in their 50′s ever find gainful employment again. But not to worry the councilors will give themselves a pay hike and earn over the 6 figure mark when some poor worker hands them his pay. What is wrong with this picture. If forgot they also found money for a half million dollar piece of art.
February 2, 2012 at 7:00 am | by sharon“Where will someone in their 50′s ever find gainful employment again.”
They can work for minimum wage at the NFL-themed casino we will build.
They were greedy to insist on a good standard of living while the private sector working class lives in permanent debt and a state of hopelessness and resentment. The sooner our government workers toil in poverty like some of their American counterparts, the better. We MUST teach The Union a lesson!
February 2, 2012 at 1:44 pm | by Joe ToryI rbememer dad having worked as a municipal engineer for the city at city hall for many years and raising his two boys alone, but I also rbememer there being a strike back then too (in the seventies); it didn’t last long and I can’t rbememer how it effected him. IF memory serves correctly, I think he didn’t go to work for a few days, but that was so long ago. When I read this blog, it came back to me because city hall was where he worked for many years.RainbowRay
February 12, 2012 at 10:16 am | by Lucas