Labour leaders from across the province will join CUPE Local 79 members in an effort to ramp up pressure on the city as negotiations have resulted in little progress since the union’s work-to-rule campaign began Monday.
The event will “highlight the current efforts by CUPE 79 members to secure a fair contract,” according to the union, which represents around 23,000 inside workers in the City of Toronto – positions that include staff at childcare and community centres.
These are the 52 child care centres that would be affected by the indoor workers’ job action.
Chris Buckley, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour, Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario and Mark Hancock, President of CUPE National are expected to attend, along with labour and community activists.
READ MORE: City workers will ‘ramp up’ work-to-rule if talks don’t progress: union president
On Facebook, 117 people confirmed they would attend the noon rally at Nathan Phillips Square.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Local 79 president Tim Maguire said the two sides are no closer on the key issues, which include job security and stability for many of their part-time, female or young staff. The union says almost half of their membership is under 30 and 75 per cent are female.
Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong released a statement Wednesday saying the city’s position in bargaining has not change and that the “City’s proposal to the union is fair and in keeping with those settlements that have been made by other public sector employers throughout the country.”
The union has been without a contract since December 31 and have not said when they could escalate job action to a full-blown strike.
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