GTA Cemetery Workers On Strike

While the city and the province have enacted measures to protect you from the harmful effects of pesticides, cemetery workers across the city have walked off the job claiming their employer hasn’t adopted a similar policy to protect their health.

More than 200 members of the Canadian Service Workers Union (CSWU) who work for Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries went on strike Wednesday night after negotiations that extended past a set deadline failed at an east end hotel.

Workers set up picket lines out front of nine cemeteries Thursday, but maintain they won’t interfere with funerals.

“We’re only slowing management down,” assures Cara Matheson from the picket line outside of Mount Pleasant Cemetery .  “We’re not going to interfere with the public and with funerals because they’re going through enough grief right now.”

The labour group claims its 230 striking members are exposed to toxic chemicals on the job, including herbicides that the city and province have banned. 

 “The public may not see our workplaces as chemical cesspools however our members are continuously exposed to herbicide spraying, which poses significant health risks and we’ve asked Mount Pleasant to take all reasonable steps to eliminate the exposures of these chemicals to our members and they have balked at that,” union president Willie Wham said in a statement.

“This is happening in spite of the fact that cosmetic pesticide use is illegal in Toronto and will soon be prohibited in all of Ontario .”

The CSWU is also upset at the apparent erosion of the full-time workforce and claims part-timers are increasingly called upon to work full-time hours.

“Most of our part time members are working full time hours with the expectation of some day becoming full time and Mount Pleasant is refusing to recognize this in any way,” Wham said.

The labour group also cites pension and other economic issues in its strike platform. Meanwhile, Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries issued its response to the work action Thursday.

“MPGC is committed to ongoing open communications with the union and is doing everything possible to reach a mutually acceptable agreement,” the company said in a statement. “In the meantime, the organization expects to continue providing all of its services to families in need and regrets any inconvenience these pickets may cause.”

Despite the work stoppage, Rick Cowan of the Mount Pleasant Group, says burials will still be taking place.

“ Their loved ones will get buried, yes,” he told CityNews.  “We’ve had backhoe training in preparation.”