Toronto Mayor David Miller says the city has reached a tentative deal with its unions, signalling a possible end to the city's 36-day strike if the agreement is ratified.

But Miller and union officials representing the inside and outside workers have refused to divulge any specific details about the deal.

"The agreements reach the principles we set out at the outset of negotiations," Miller said shortly after 3:30 p.m. Monday. "They are fair to the workers, affordable to Torontonians, and will allow the city the flexibility to continue to deliver high-quality services well into the future."

Specifics on the deals will have to await the outcome of the ratification vote, the city said. City council will hold its ratification vote on Friday.

However, there is speculation the two sides may have reached a compromise on a key point of contention: sick day payments for union members. Currently, employees are allowed to bank unused sick days (they get 18 per year) and get to cash them in for up to six month's pay at retirement.

"One source said they came to a compromise," reported CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney. "A buyout for those who want to get rid of their sick days, a freeze for those who want to keep them until retirement, and no knew sick days that are bankable for new employees."

Miller said the dispute had been hard on everyone -- strikers, citizens and the non-union and management staff who worked extremely long hours to keep things functioning.

"This agreement, if ratified, means we can get back to doing the work we do so well," added city manager Joe Pennachetti. But he warned it will take days to get back to normal, if the unions and city council do ratify the deals.

He said people should keep checking the city website, Toronto.ca, for details on returning things to normal. Temporary dump sites will remain open this week.

CUPE Local 79 president Ann Dembinski said just before Miller spoke that her 18,000-member union had reached a deal with the city, meaning the strike could soon be over if members ratify the proposed settlements.

The Local 79 vote will take place Wednesday, as will the vote for Local 416. Dembinski said she thinks it's a good deal and that her members will vote to ratify the four "unique" agreements.

"We want to get back to delivering the services to provide the citizens of Toronto," she said, but she also said: "We could have had a deal without a strike."

A deal was reached with CUPE Local 416, the union representing the 6,200 city's garbage collectors and other outside workers, at about 7:30 a.m. That local only had one collective agreement with the city.

"We have the basis for a deal," union president Mark Ferguson said Monday morning to thunderous applause from his members. "It's a fair deal. Compromises were made but at the end of the day, we have a deal that we're proud of."

He said concessions were not taken off the table until the final hour of bargaining but Ferguson refused to say what those concessions were. Ferguson said he would not speak to the details of the settlement but that it's an agreement that has been accepted unanimously by the bargaining committee.

The deal does not mean an end to the civic strike just yet. The deal reached with Local 416 still needs to be ratified. That vote will also take place on Wednesday.

Strike's toll

The strike has turned Toronto parks into a dumping ground as city services such as garbage collection and park maintenance were frozen as part of the job action.

It has also cut daycare programs and summer camps, cancelled swimming pool supervision and ferry services to Centre Island. Many construction projects suffered as developers couldn't get business permits.

The strike began June 22 and affects about 24,000 inside and outside workers (the city gives the count at 30,000; the discrepancy isn't explained) -- not to mention 2.5 million Torontonians.

Lorenzo Lisi, an Ontario labour lawyer, told CTV's Canada AM on Monday that legacy costs are hard to negotiate because businesses and governments try to cut back on benefits that have already been earned and received.

"That's the friction we're seeing," he said in a telephone interview from Port Carling, Ont. "It's happening not just in governments but in a lot of different industries right now."

Aside from bankable sick days, wages had been another sticking point.

The unions had wanted the three per cent raises that police and firefighters had obtained last year through arbitrated settlements. The city had offered 7.2 per cent. LCBO workers, represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, settled for 7.75 per cent over four years.

After a 101-day strike, city workers in Windsor agreed to a 6.3 per cent hike over four years plus a lump-sum payment. However, they had to give up on post-retirement benefits for new hires.

With reports from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney and Michelle Dube