No Apparent Progress In Negotiations As City Workers’ Strike Poised To Start Monday
Posted June 19, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Did you get your garbage picked up on Friday? Enjoy the service while it lasts, because come Monday garbage collectors may be off the job, along with thousands more city workers.
If no agreement is reached between the city and CUPE, 6,200 outside workers and 18,000 inside workers will strike as of 12:01am Monday. That means no trash pick-up, Toronto-run day cares will be closed, and pools and rec centres will also be shut.
A host of other services will also be affected, and earlier this week city officials put out a contingency plan advising Torontonians what to do in the event of a walkout.
Residents are urged not to sort their trash but to double-bag it and store it. And there are warnings against illegal dumping, which happened last time there was a strike by garbage workers, in 2002. That work stoppage led to bags piling up all across the city.
Those affected said they were hoping a strike could be avoided but admitted they were ready for one.
“The plan is just to muddle through,” Bill Atkinson noted. “Whatever it takes, we’ll do. I’ll write curmudgeonous letters to the editor. We’ll get by. I’ll bag everything, put it in the large garage. This too shall pass.”
Sid Reznick remarked, “I don’t believe they should be striking, with teachers or anything like that, because we pay our taxes. Why am I taking my garbage to work?”
