Toronto's unionized outside workers are vowing to continue bargaining for a new labour contract despite being "bullied" by the city into taking a last-minute settlement, its president said Friday.
CUPE 416 president Mark Ferguson told reporters that Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday and his negotiating team tabled a last-chance proposal late Thursday night, which Ferguson said showed the city had no interest in bargaining fairly.
"Late last night the city put a provocative, threatening final offer to the table that basically guts our collective bargaining agreement. To the detriment of both workers and the services they provide we were told to take it or leave it," Ferguson told reporters during a short press conference Friday.
"It is the clearest demonstration to date that the city has no interest to bargain a collective agreement with us at this time."
Ferguson claimed that the city had no interest in negotiating an agreement despite the union's offer of a three-year wage freeze and a five-year agreement on employment security.
"The city's position clearly seeks to provoke us into a fight. There is no other way to read it," Ferguson said.
"Simply put the city has decided it is better to be a bully than a problem solver. Our reaction to this is that we will not be provoked. We will remain at the table to work to find solutions to the collective bargaining agreement that is fair, affordable and allows workers to continue to provide quality services to residents just like we have for the last four months."
Both sides are in a legal position to lock out the workers or walk off the job Sunday morning if an agreement is not reached.
Holyday and his team contend the city is committed to reaching an agreement -- even if it has to work past the deadline.
However, Bruce Anderson, Toronto's director of human resources, told reporters on Friday that the city would implement the terms of its contract offer at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday.
When the provincially set deadline arrives, the city is legally allowed to impose concessions on the workers.
The union contends that while the city is in a legal position to do so, forcing the contract terms on condition on workers amid contract talks is a egregious show of bad faith.
In an unprecedented move, the released a detailed list of what it has put on the table to the union in an attempt to show the public what is at stake.
This included a 1.25 per cent lump sum wage payment in 2012, a 1.5 per cent lump sum payment in 2013, a 1.75 per cent lump sum payment in 2014, and a 1.75 per cent base wage increase in 2015.
It also would remove an agreement regarding the so-called "work-for-life" guarantee.
"The city has always said that the issue is not about wages, but about the terms and conditions in the collective agreement that are restrictive to the city in the way it operates and manages," said Anderson.
Despite both sides being in a legal strike or lockout position, the city has vowed that it will work to reach an agreement and that it would not force a labour disruption this weekend.
Anderson also did not rule out an eleventh-hour settlement.
"We have tabled proposals last night that are significant. We feel that we are very close to the end of where we are. Obviously we have some room around the edges in the agreement and we expect to try and do that in the next day and a half."
