There's been a breakthrough with regards to our 36-day-old civic workers strike.
A weekend of intense bargaining has produced "the basis for a deal" that could bring a swift end the strike by municipal workers in Canada's largest city.
At an early morning news conference, CUPE Local 416 president Mark Ferguson announced that although "we still have to put the final pieces together," union negotiators "have the basis for a deal."
Local 416 represents outside workers, including garbage collectors, parks employees and sewer and water main workers.
An important sticking point, however, is the continuing lack of an agreement with the other union, CUPE Local 79, which represents daycare workers, clerks and other inside workers.
It sounds like we're almost through this. I was psyching myself up for another month or two, preparing for this to go all summer. Of course, there's no basis for an agreement with CUPE Local 79 yet, so don't bring your garbage to the curb quite yet.
Previous entries about Toronto's civic workers strike:
The Right to Strike or the Right to Terrorize
