[simuls]

I think I agree with most people on here that the result with regards to sick days is completely acceptable. The wage increase is not. This is a greedy union that could've had its back broken, taxpayers would've been the beneficiaries, and the city let us down. I've lost a lot of faith in Miller, and while I won't completely rule out voting for him next time, he's going to need to get some serious shit done in the interim if he wants it.

Toronto is doing fine without garage workers?? open your eyes the parks and streets are a disgusting mess! Get these buggers back to work ASP and get everything cleaned up so we don't lose any more tourists

I live right downtown, in the middle of it all, and while some garbages are overflowing, the streets are still quite clean. I just walked 10k this morning and didn't get a whiff of anything. Stores seem to be stepping up and dealing with it themselves. The parks look great, not having been mowed in a while, with the obvious exception of ones that were designated as dumps. As for the tourists, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but we're not exactly a tourist destination and while the small amount we do get is down, that has more to do with the recession/passport requirements than any garbage strike.

 

[Dilla]

The reason these guys are getting 2% is because the untouchables - the Fire Department and the Police - got at least that. I don't think they should have, either, but they did. Even the the more right leaning councillors aren't willing to make a peep about those two unions getting everything handed to them. On top of that, the police have a "highest pay" clause which screws everything up down the line. All public unions compare their contracts to the others (of course, none compare themselves to anyone outside the public service...that would be "unfair" to them somehow), and that's the standard set. The inside and outside workers should have their contracts come before the police and fire, to set the precedent for the fire and police. It may sound cynical, but I doubt that it's just a happy coincidence this isn't the case.

The writing has been on the wall for a long time about the city's financial situation, they just chose to ignore it, hire another 1000 unionised staff (good luck getting rid of them now) and gave everyone raises last year. They knew when they did that that this would be the result. They just didn't have the balls (maybe not even the want) to do anything about it.

EDIT: Does anyone think Miller will be taken to task on Friday for bending the rules and paying out more than the Labour Relations board allowed ? Is there any chance the city won't ratify it as a result?

 

[kEiThZ]

Forget the bankable sick days issue. All the city has done is prevent a threat to its fiscal position from growing bigger. It will deflate over time. However, the city has not been able to get productivity improvements and that's where cost savings would have really mattered. The trash collectors are the most egregious examples of this, but I am certain that other examples in the city's workforce can be found.

Since no effort was made to actually contain labour costs, that means that there will either be a huge tax increase next or Toronto will need a huge bailout from Queen's Park. I expect the former. I think we'll see a doubling of all the fees imposed in 2008/2009 and a hefty property tax increase (maybe at least 5%). That should make for some good debates in an election year. Maybe we'll finally get a candidate who supports some outsourcing to contain labour costs.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Write your City Councilor and let your feelings be known. If you object to what is being reported, or if David Miller did indeed out step his boundaries write or phone your City Councilor and encourage them to not accept this offer when it goes before Council for a vote on Friday.

City Councilor contacts here

Presuming the report in today's Globe is correct, Miller gave the unions 6 per cent over three-years. At a time of zero-inflation. At a time when the city has no money. On top of the richest public sector union deals in the country. If every one percent pay increase represents roughly $30-million in cost, compounding annually, this is hundreds of millions of dollars in additional cost over the next three years. Again, for a city that can't afford it.

But there's more. The way labour negotiations work at the city is council delegates their authority with clear parameters to the city's labour relations committee. The labour committee (which is chaired by some guy named David Miller) then gives the city's negotiators marching orders.

So what were the parameters council gave David Miller? A 1 per cent pay increase in year one, 1 per cent in year two, 2 per cent in year three and 3 per cent in year four. That adds up to 7 per cent over four years, with the biggest increase happening in the out-year (which is important from a costing perspective). That wasn't a goal. That wasn't a "see what you can do." That was the maximum he was allowed to spend.

In other words, if the numbers in the Globe today are correct, David Miller had no authority to make this offer.

More importantly to those of you who don't care about the "rule of law" or council process, how does David Miller intend to pay for this deal?

This isn't an empty rhetorical or populist question; the city is broke. It was broke before this deal, it's more broke now. Hundreds of millions of dollars more broke.

So to summarize:

1. David Miller didn't get any concessions from the union during this strike. It was a completely wasted opportunity. If we were going to have the pain of the strike, at the very least we should have gotten some benefit from it in terms of fiscal sustainability for our city;

2. David Miller didn't have the authority to settle at the price that has been reported in today's Globe; and

3. David Miller will either have to raise taxes, cut services or go beg another level of government for money to pay for his rich deal.

Source

 

[afransen]

Forget the bankable sick days issue. All the city has done is prevent a threat to its fiscal position from growing bigger. It will deflate over time. However, the city has not been able to get productivity improvements and that's where cost savings would have really mattered. The trash collectors are the most egregious examples of this, but I am certain that other examples in the city's workforce can be found.

Since no effort was made to actually contain labour costs, that means that there will either be a huge tax increase next or Toronto will need a huge bailout from Queen's Park. I expect the former. I think we'll see a doubling of all the fees imposed in 2008/2009 and a hefty property tax increase (maybe at least 5%). That should make for some good debates in an election year. Maybe we'll finally get a candidate who supports some outsourcing to contain labour costs.

It won't deflate over time, the raise is probably greater than inflation will be over the time frame. I hope you're right that the day of reckoning will come and outsourcing will have to be seriously considered. This might be the last contract local 416 ever lands.

 

[kEiThZ]

^ I meant the fiscal threat from bankable sick days would diminish over time as newer workers are prevented from banking their days. I don't think the day of reckoning is close though. That'll only come when Miller and his cohorts truly feel threatened or are replaced by right-wing candidates.

 

[khris]

Does anyone know when the ferry service to the islands will resume?

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Presuming the ratification vote succeeds on Wednesday, ferry service should resume in about 24 hours. Source

What's puzzling now is that it seems City Council is being locked out of approving the contracts. It appears (well, my opinion) that Miller is trying to avoid a problem with Council. No details on the contracts are being released to the public before Council votes and now Council may not vote. For example, "The most recent financial statements show unused sick pay will cost $249 million in future payments, offset by reserves of only $63 million." Source

Something smells really bad here and it ain't the rotting garbage.


"Miller shifts his position, calls for fast end to strike" (source)

It reads, in part,

"The city has stated to both union locals that the city will welcome all staff back as quickly and efficiently as possible as part of the orderly resumption of the city's services," Miller said in a statement.

The mayor had previously insisted that city council would have to meet and approve the deals at least 24 hours after the ratification votes.

That would have meant it would probably be Tuesday – Monday is a holiday – before many of the city's 30,000 striking employees were back on the job. [DT's edit: would that not be Thursday, or possibly Friday? That's how it appears on my calendar, perhaps they are using a Lunar calendar or something)].

And that had many workers frustrated.

Tonight, however, Ann Dembinski, head of CUPE Local 79, held a news conference demanding that inside workers be allowed to go back to their jobs Thursday. She said that after job actions in 2000 and 2005 ended, employees went back to work without having to wait for a council vote.

"Our members are anxious to get back to work so the people of Toronto can once again benefit from the services we provide," she said. "There's no reason for city council to delay reception of these services."

At the very least, council should vote on the settlement Thursday, Dembinski said. The city says it will release a back-to-work plan tomorrow.

 

[GenerationW]

And you just know that in 2 years, the ATU will use this as a benchmark, then the TPA, then god knows who else. It is just a slippery slope. If we couldn't get concessions during 'the worst recession in 30 years', then there is no hope for any other CBA.

Now I'm depressed.

 

[cdr108]

The mayor had previously insisted that city council would have to meet and approve the deals at least 24 hours after the ratification votes.

That would have meant it would probably be Tuesday – Monday is a holiday – before many of the city's 30,000 striking employees were back on the job.[/I] [DT's edit: would that not be Thursday, or possibly Friday? That's how it appears on my calendar, perhaps they are using a Lunar calendar or something)].

And that had many workers frustrated.

Tonight, however, Ann Dembinski, head of CUPE Local 79, held a news conference demanding that inside workers be allowed to go back to their jobs Thursday. She said that after job actions in 2000 and 2005 ended, employees went back to work without having to wait for a council vote.

"Our members are anxious to get back to work so the people of Toronto can once again benefit from the services we provide," she said. "There's no reason for city council to delay reception of these services."

At the very least, council should vote on the settlement Thursday, Dembinski said. The city says it will release a back-to-work plan tomorrow.

Screw that ... the union members should have to wait until at least Tuesday b/c IMO they don't deserve to get paid for holiday Monday off !!!

 

[Hydrogen]

I agree with allowing the workers to cash out the sick days. I think that bankable sick days is unheard of to begin with, however, given that the workers were committed this years passed, it wouldn't be fair to take it away at this point.

I saw people abuse "bankable" sick days in Ottawa (guess which union). These "banked" days would be saved up and cashed out prior to retirement - when a person is typically at the top of his or her pay scale. That means a person gets paid to do nothing because they have sick days magically converted into holidays (which they are not because sick days are for when you are ill).

Of course, to get those days, people would often go to work sick, be non-productive and make others ill. That's a fun thought given that this flu season will probably be worse than average.

To be very blunt, "bankable" sick days is an abuse of the very idea of paid sick days. Sadly, this abuse was invented by union leaders driven by greed (yes, greed affects union leaders and left-wingers, too).

Illness is something beyond the control of the employer or the employee, and the days allotted for illness are not paid holidays to be accumulated like credits and owed to an employee at the expense of the employer - which in this case is us.

 

[Eug]

Actually, with that clarification, I would not say the city completely caved. That's good to hear.

That will go a long way to help Miller's PR.

The Globe is sticking by its guns:

Miller faces heat for backing down on sick-day perk (July 29, 2009)

A controversial perk that allows unionized City of Toronto employees to accumulate sick days remains in a tentative deal to end their lengthy strike, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The tentative deal reached earlier this week would allow people already working for the city to bank 18 sick days a year and cash them out as the equivalent of six months pay at retirement.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Cupe 416 has postponed the vote as of this morning.

Toronto hasn't addressed 'outstanding issues': Union
Updated: Wed Jul. 29 2009 7:41:18 AM

ctvtoronto.ca

The president of the Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 says there are details that still need to be worked out before employees vote to ratify an agreement that would end a 36-day strike.

The workers from two CUPE unions were expected to vote Wednesday, heading back to work soon after. But Mark Ferguson said he's still waiting for action on some outstanding issues.

"I said on Monday that we had the basis of a deal, but there were still final pieces to put into place," said Ferguson, the Local 416 president, in a statement Wednesday morning.

"That is what we have been trying to do. There are still outstanding issues that the city has yet to address. We hope to resolve those issues in a meeting with the city this morning."

Ferguson said there would be no further communication with the media until a tentative agreement is signed.

It is still unclear when workers will return to the job.

Late Tuesday, Mayor David Miller said workers would be able to return to work once they ratify the deal. He had earlier said that council would have to also approve the deal before work could resume.

CUPE Local 79, which represents 18,000 striking inside workers, had demanded to go back to work as soon as possible.

But Ferguson has maintained that the 6,000 CUPE 416 workers he represents wouldn't go back on the job until after a council vote.

The details of the deal between the city and the union have not yet been released. But it has been leaked that the tentative deal gives members of both locals six per cent in wage increases over the next three years.

It has also been reported that the city compromised on the thorny issue of sick days, and workers will have the option of taking partial immediate payment for their accumulated sick days, or save what they have now until retirement.

Miller says the current system, which gives workers 18 sick days per year that can be banked, saved up and cashed out, is outdated and needs to be modernized.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...to_strike_090729/20090729/?hub=TorontoNewHome

 

[Dilla]

^ So the 79 isn't sticking by the 416? Let's hope neither gets ratified then, there's cracks showing up all over the place now.

From what I heard on CityTV "Breakfast" this morning, the city wants some 416 members disciplined for their behaviour during the strike, and the union doesn't like it.

EDIT: Take them back Tuesday, I don't want them having their second day a paid day off.

 

[threnody]

If the deal wasn't final then why didn't 416 speak up sooner? There's something really fishy about this. If I was a union member looking forward to finally going back to work I'd be seriously upset right now, especially now that 79 is going it alone.