December 30, 2011 00:12:00It could be a quiet winter at Toronto City Hall.
On Jan. 1, the city's contracts with its two biggest unions - CUPE Local 416, representing outside workers, and CUPE Local 79, representing inside workers - are no more.
When the contracts expire, one of three things can happen:
The city and the unions can continue to sit at the bargaining table to hammer out a new agreement;
The unions can throw up their hands, ask for what is known as a "no board" report, and start the clock ticking on a strike;
The city can do the same thing, but aim toward a lockout rather than a strike.
In the weeks leading up to the holidays, both sides have denied plans for anything but the first option. But this month, the city applied for a provincial conciliator - a necessary first step toward a lockout.
And while CUPE Local 416 President Mark Ferguson has promised no work stoppage himself, he's made it clear through the fall that he believes the city is planning to lock out workers out to try and force an agreement.
If there is a strike or lockout, it would be the first winter work stoppage in Toronto's history.
And there are signs preparations are being made at the city for such a situation.
At a news conference earlier this year announcing the city's snow clearing plans, works committee chair Denzil Minnan-Wong was ready when asked whether a work stoppage would affect snow clearing. His answer: it would on some local roads but because 75 per cent of the city's snow clearing is contracted out, it wouldn't likely.
The January meeting of the Toronto and East York Community Council promises to be a marathon, with 114 items in an agenda eight volumes long and six inches thick - potentially clearing the decks of development proposals for what could be a long strike or lockout.
And staff have been preparing in other ways. Local restaurateur and caterer Donnie Blais told Toronto Community News that he was contacted a month ago by staff from the city's water and wastewater division, to see if he would be able to provide three meals a day at the city's water treatment plants. The city offered to pay a premium for transportation costs - which Blais took to mean costs of getting meals across a picket line. "I had to decline," said Blais, citing "moral and ethical" reasons, as well as the fact that much of his business comes from the unionized film industry.
Toronto's Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday maintains that the city is not planning for a lockout. He noted that any time labour negotiations are heading towards the wire, the city prepares.
"We have contingency plans in event of any outcome," he said.
"We're not planning on having a work stoppage in the middle of January - but we don't control that. Once the conciliator has been on board, they are the ones who conclude there's no chance of negotiating together. They issue the no board."
City officials won't speak publicly about what contingency plans might be in place.
In past work stoppages, the city has waited until it is within days of a strike deadline before telling residents what to expect.
But if past experience is any indication, residents can expect to see a reduction in services from the get-go. In 2009, both city inside and outside workers were off the job for 40 days in a co-ordinated strike.
Then, the most noticeable drop in service was in residential garbage collection, as homeowners were encouraged to keep their garbage - including organics and recycling - at their homes for as long as possible, then bring it to local parks where temporary dump sites were set up.
City management staff tried to maintain other services as best they could, operating centralized welfare offices, collecting taxes, cleaning and maintaining city facilities and even looking after animals at city-run zoos and farms. And city ambulances were run by a rotating crew of striking EMS personnel.
Some city services were unaffected; the Toronto Transit Commission continued as per usual, police services and firefighting were fine, and the Toronto Zoo stayed open, because their workers are unionized under different collective agreements.
But this year, one other service could also be affected: the Toronto Public Library's contract also expires on Dec. 31. Maureen O'Reilly, president of the library workers' union, has said publicly that she also anticipates a lockout.
Toronto's librarians have never been off the job in a labour dispute so it's unclear as to how the libraries would be kept open with management staff or if the city would even attempt to do so.
While Holyday insists that the city doesn't want a work stoppage, he made it clear the city is also hoping to have matters resolved before the summer, when garbage is smellier and there is more demand for the city's recreation services.
"Right now it seems like they're playing out their usual strategy to wait until spring and early summer to take some action," said Holyday.
"That's their strategy and that's what always happened. We're hoping that it will not play out that way. The contract's over December 31, and there's really no reason why a contract couldn't be in place before December 31. That's not going to happen - but we'd like it to be as close as possible."