The 2009 City of Toronto inside and outside workers strike (also known as the 2009 Toronto strike) was a legal strike action that was undertaken by the Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 and CUPE Local 79, two locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in the city of Toronto.
It involved approximately 24,000 city employees. [1]
On June 22 at midnight Toronto municipal workers belonging to two separate unions (CUPE Local 416 - representing the out8side workers, and CUPE Local 79 - representing the inside workers) went on strike following six months negotiating with the municipality over contract renewal. [2]
The union said that the main issue for the strike were requests, from the city, for concessions from the union in the new contract. [2]
According to the CBC, the main issues were regard changes to job security, seniority and the banking of sick days. [3] The previous contract allowed some[ citation needed ] union members to bank unused sick days and cash them out upon retirement. The city proposed contract was to disallow the practise.
CUPE Local 79 President, Ann Dembinski was quoted as saying "This is about getting a fair deal similar to what everyone else got. Everyone else was able to negotiate a collective agreement without huge takeaways. These are huge concessions. No other City of Toronto workforce has had to negotiate any concessions in order to get a collective agreement." [3]
Union members from Local 416 and Local 79 work in various departments within the city and the work stoppage affected many of their services, including: [4]
The cessation of garbage collection was one of the more noticeable effects of the labour disruption. Four days into the strike the city announced 19 temporary garbage drop off locations for residential waste. This decision proved controversial in the neighbourhoods containing the sites as residents expressed concerns about pesticide and rodenticide spraying, as well as odour and leaching caused by the piles of garbage. [5] Junk removal entrepreneurs took the opportunity to increase their customer base, specifically because plenty of residents were left without options to deal with their garbage. [6]
On July 27, after extensions to a union-imposed midnight deadline to reach an agreement, CUPE local 416 President Mark Ferguson announced that the union had "the basis for a deal" with the City of Toronto. Ferguson exhorted the city to turn its attention to resolving outstanding issues with the city's inside workers represented by 416's sister local, local 79. [7] [8]
The final vote by the council on the agreement put forward by the mayor resulted in 21 "yes" votes, 18 "no" votes, and 6 absences. [9]
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The following is a timeline of the history of labour organizations in communities in and around Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Listings for incorporated townships which were later amalgamated with the City of Sudbury are noted separately.
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The 2020 Port of Montreal strike began at 7:00 AM on August 10, 2020, after Local 375 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees walked off the jobsite. The local had previously voted for an indefinite strike. The strike is part of a dispute dating back to 2018, when the union and management were unable to negotiate a new contract.
The 2018 Atlanta sanitation strike was a labor strike involving 120 sanitation workers for Republic Services in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The workers, members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, went on strike on August 10, 2018, with the strike ending later that day. Several days later, the union and company reached an agreement on new labor contracts.
The 2021 Kitimat smelter strike was a 69-day labor strike by Rio Tinto workers in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada.
The 2021 New Brunswick public sector strike was labour strike in the Canadian province of New Brunswick involving employees of the provincial government, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). In October 2021, the workers voted to take strike action.
The Keeping Students in Class Act was a law in the province of Ontario. It aimed to address labour disputes between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the province of Ontario regarding employees in Ontario public school districts. The act prohibited any strikes by CUPE members by declaring strikes by the union to be illegal under Ontario's Labour Relations Act, setting a fine of up to $4,000 per day on strike for members, and $500,000 per day on strike for the union. The bill used the controversial Notwithstanding Clause to override Canadians' constitutional right to strike. After the union's decision to strike anyway, protests, other unions pledging to join in, and proposals for a general strike, CUPE and the Ontario government came to an agreement to repeal the bill, and declare it and any collective agreements enacted by it void ab initio.
Strikes and other labour disputes in Canada | |
|---|---|
| Early | |
| 1918–1925 Labour Revolt | |
| Great Depression era | |
| Postwar era | |
| Late 20th century | |
| 21st century |
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