A Toronto Public Library strike could be possible by mid-March after the union asked the Minister of Labour to step in claiming negotiations with the city had reached an impasse.
The union asked the Ministry of Labour on Friday to issue a "no board report" which is usually issued if the two sides feel the effort of a provincially-appointed conciliator has not been successful.
The report, if granted by the Minister of Labour, places a 17-day deadline on the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. The earliest the union could strike or the city could lock out the workers is March 12.
Maureen O'Reilly, president of Local 4948, said the union made the request because the city "has not shown any interest in substantive negotiations."
"It's our members who deliver those services. And our members value the services they deliver just as much as the public does," O'Reilly said in a press release. "But it's also our members being cut from budgets, and now the Library Board is seeking massive concessions from their contract."
O'Reilly urged the city to remove the concessions, and negotiate a fair deal, "so we can assure the public that workers have secured the sustainable conditions they need to provide the best library services on the continent."
The workers have been without a contract since Jan. 1.
Toronto Civic Employees Union (CUPE) Local 416, which represents some 6,000 of the city's outside workers, used the same tactic in early January when it also requested a no board report.
That union reached a four-year deal on Feb. 5
