Holding A Gun To Taxpayer's Head

Sides clash over trash

By JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

A feud over who'll clean up the mounds of rubbish in temporary dumps is holding up a ratification vote required to put Toronto's trash collectors and other outside employees back to work, sources say.

A dispute over a so-called back-to-work protocol prompted the leadership of CUPE Local 416, which represents more than 6,000 outside workers, to call off a ratification vote planned for yesterday on a tentative agreement reached between negotiators for the city and union.

The city wants private contractors to start hauling garbage away from the scores of temporary dumps scattered around the city as soon as a deal is reached, according to sources. The union is strongly opposed to such a measure.

Hiring contractors would speed up the cleanup and reduce the amount of overtime paid to returning workers.

Mayor David Miller said he couldn't go into detail about the talks with 416 but said the ministry of environment rules that allowed the dump sites through the strike say a cleanup has to start within 24 hours of a ratified settlement.

"So we need to start them as soon as possible, and we would hope to have our workers back to do that work," Miller said. "You know, there'll be areas, I'm sure, where there are contractors, as well.

"Our effort, as you know, is to minimize the amount of overtime. We need to clean up the temporary dropoffs. We need to get our people back to work. And, you know, from my perspective, I would be very happy if they're back to work now ... and get the cleanup done as quickly as possible using whatever resources are appropriate."

Thirty-eight days after workers went on strike -- and two days after a tentative deal was announced, it was unclear last night when outside workers would go back to their jobs.

Inside workers, represented by CUPE Local 79, yesterday voted to go back to work.

3-YEAR DEAL

The three-year deal includes annual wage increases of 1.75%, 2% and 2.25%, and the "phasing out" of the controversial sick bank benefit. It allows workers to bank their unused 18 annual sick days and cash up to six months' worth at retirement.

Current staff will get to keep the perk but new hires won't -- a controversial compromise Miller was forced to defend.

He said many eligible workers will cash out their sick bank benefits and the $140 million the city is on the hook for will gradually decline.

Keeping the sick bank for current employees means the city has given away the farm to workers, charged Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong.

"He caved in and he gave away the sick bank," Minnan-Wong said. "Where's the leadership when the No. 1 thing the people of Toronto wanted to get rid of was the sick bank and the mayor gives it away?"