The union representing Toronto's library workers has filed for conciliation in negotiations with the Toronto Public Library Board.
Union president Maureen O'Reilly told reporters Friday, Jan. 27, that she and her bargaining committee had filed for conciliation after concluding that the library board was unwilling to negotiate meaningfully."The library workers want to ensure that we have a real set of negotiations and we want to achieve a fair settlement," she said. "So toward that end we've filed for conciliation this morning."O'Reilly said she had been led to understand that the library board wasn't going to engage in any negotiations until the city had extracted a range of concessions from its outside workers, represented by CUPE Local 416. "They're asking for the same concessions," she said. "There's an attack on job security, on benefits."The application for conciliation is the first step toward a No Board report, which eventually leads to a strike/lockout deadline.CUPE Local 416 and the city are further down that road. At 12:01 a.m. Feb. 5, the city's outside workers and inside workers will be in a strike or lockout position.Both sides are still talking, but at the same news conference CUPE President Mark Ferguson said that talks are not going well.He said he believed that the city is attempting to "union bust," and isn't moving on about 60 concessions it's been demanding."This administration wants to - if you use the words of Councillor Doug Ford - wants to contract everything out that's not nailed down," he said. Ferguson said he believed the city might attempt to tear up the collective agreement on Feb. 5, present workers with a new, unilateral contract and force the union to go out on strike.Don Valley East Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said that the city isn't attempting to precipitate a lockout or a strike and is simply looking to make the best deal it can.Meanwhile, Library Board Chair Paul Ainslie, councillor for Scarborough East, said that the board has not instructed its bargaining team to take the wait-and-see attitude that O'Reilly suggested."They have four days of scheduled negotiations next week," he said. "I certainly haven't told my HR staff not to go to those meetings. My HR staff are certainly going to be at the table. I think she's very premature. I'm quite surprised."