The president of Toronto union Local 79 says her members want to return to work on Thursday, but are frustrated they need to wait until after the city holds a ratification vote on a tentative deal.

The union, one of two that went on strike more than five weeks ago, will be holding its own ratification vote on Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The city is holding a ratification vote on Friday.

"Our members are ready to return to work on Thursday," Ann Deminski told reporters. "We are now being told by the city that we cannot return to work until city council has also ratified our collective agreements. This has not been the city's practice in past."

She said that nine years ago, Local 79 members were asked to "return to work immediately after a tentative agreement was reached -- even before it was ratified by our members."

Deminski also said that delaying their return to work would further inconvenience Torontonians.

Mayor David Miller said on Monday that the city would hold its own ratification vote, but it's unclear why Local 79 waited until Tuesday to respond.

Earlier Tuesday, city manager Joe Pennachetti said in a press release that officials are " committed to the orderly resumption of services as soon as possible."

However, he hinted things might take longer to get going than the clean-up after the 16-day strike in 2002.

That strike "was different in that the Provincial government legislated workers back and there was no period of time needed for the union membership and City Council to ratify the agreement prior to the resumption of services," he said.

Pennachetti noted there has been speculation about the terms of the agreement, but the city won't release details until city council holds a ratification vote. That will likely happen on Friday.

Some details are leaking out

CTV Toronto and the Globe and Mail reported that current unionized employees will have the option to keep their banked sick days and carry them over year-to-year -- an issue that was a sticking point in the talks.

But new hires would be denied the entitlement under the terms of the deal, saving the city millions, they report. There would be a partial buyout of those covered by the existing plan, and a short-term disability plan would be brought in.

The paper also cited sources that said the tentative deal is for a three-year period -- not the four years the city had pushed for earlier -- and includes a six per cent pay raise over three years.

Mayor David Miller had originally proposed a four per cent raise in the contract's first three years.

Speaking to CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday, Miller declined to divulge any details of the agreement, but said he is satisfied with the end result.

"We were seeking to modernize our collective agreement so that public services in Toronto remained affordable and remained public. We've been able to do that in some important ways and I'm very pleased with that," Miller said.

The strike has gripped the city for 37 days, shutting down garbage collection, city daycares, swimming pools, kids' camps, ferry service to the islands, park maintenance and a host of other public services.

City council is expected to hold a ratification vote on the agreement on Friday, while the union is expected to vote on Wednesday.

If the agreement is ratified by both sides, workers would be back on the job by Friday.

Miller appears to have sweetened his offer significantly since July 10, when he publicly proposed a deal to the union.

On Tuesday, some workers on the picket line liked the deal, but they noted that no one really wins during a strike. But one noted that new hires will get less sick-day coverage that older workers did.

On Monday, however, union leaders painted the agreement as a clear victory.

Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE Local 416, which represents outside workers, suggested his members stuck to their guns until they got what they wanted.

"I am so proud of my members for holding the line," he said, praising members for giving the bargaining committee the support to "fight back all of the concessions the city sought from us."

Miller, however, said Tuesday the city was never seeking concessions, but rather to "modernize" the collective agreement -- a goal he said was accomplished.

"I'm very confident that once all the facts are public, the public will see we have met our goals and that we were reasonable with our employees but we also kept the city's affordability, which was our goal."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney