One of Toronto's top officials says the city has tabled its final offer to the union representing thousands of municipal workers, adding he believes there's time to reach a deal as the deadline looms for a strike or lockout that could shut down city-run child-care and recreation centres.
CUPE Local 79 will be in a legal strike position and the city in a legal lockout position at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday.
City manager Paul Johnson said the city presented the union with an offer on Tuesday that reflects how its members have been working during times of high inflation.
"We obviously have constraints that are placed upon us in terms of our negotiations at the table, and so we've been pretty clear," Johnson said at a press conference Wednesday. "Now we have the package in front of us. Within that package, if there are things we can do to make this work for Local 79, that's the conversation that needs to happen between now and Friday at midnight."
Johnson said the offer includes a 14.65-per-cent wage increase for all positions over four years, starting with a minimum 3.95 per cent increase — more than double the inflation rate in the city, he said. It also includes eliminating minimum wage for all workers.
The city has also tabled special wage adjustments for certain positions over four years. Child-care aides would get a 16.7-per-cent wage increase, while personal support workers and registered nurses would see increases of 16.8 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively.
"We really want to work towards not having a disruption, particularly over what's happening next week," Johnson said. "It's March break for families, and we want to make sure that programming continues and the excellent workers in Local 79 are there to provide their services."
CUPE Local 79 members include workers in public health, court services, child care, ambulance dispatch, shelters, water and food inspection and long-term care. The union has said executive pay has ballooned while workers' wages have stagnated behind inflation, contributing to front-line vacancies in areas such as long-term care and paramedic dispatchers.
CUPE Local 79 president Nas Yadollahi said earlier Wednesday that the union will present a counter proposal later in the day and it has extended its own negotiation deadline to 12:01 a.m. Monday.
If no deal is reached by that time, the workers will walk off the job, she said.
Yadollahi said the city's latest offer still falls short of the workers' needs. The union members are "regular working people" struggling to make ends meet, she said.
"The City of Toronto has a choice: they can bargain in good faith and show respect for the workers who keep this city running, or they can continue their pattern of neglect, delay and dishonesty and force a strike that will hurt us all," Yadollahi said.
"We don't want to strike. We never have. To the residents of Toronto: if you knew first-hand how mismanaged the city has become, you would understand why we are at this point."
Yadollahi said Johnson has not directly addressed the union at the bargaining table himself, calling it a "toxic way to negotiate."
But Johnson said he's been "fully engaged" and negotiations remain a "core interest" for him.
"I don't think anyone should take publicly anything from the fact that I don't, every day, lead the bargaining team at the table," said Johnson. "That is not something that's happened in other negotiations we've done over the past year and, again, in my experience, municipally, it's not something city managers that I've worked for have been doing."
Johnson said he's optimistic that neither side wants a work stoppage.
"Very thankful that we're going to get something from the union later today in terms of where they see some room for more conversation," he said.
Last week, the city said nearly all of its recreation centres and all 39 city-operated child-care centres will close if workers strike. Cancellations would include March break camps run out of city recreation centres, it said.
Johnson said the city placed the offer on Tuesday to provide enough time to try to reach an agreement before Friday's midnight deadline and to provide clarity to parents as soon as possible.
"We remain committed, as the union says they are, to making sure that there is no alternative arrangement that needs to be made," Johnson said, adding that other facilities may have differing levels of service in the event of a work stoppage.
Johnson said all other key city services would continue uninterrupted, including emergency shelters and long-term care homes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2025.
Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press