Toronto PL Avoids Strike

-- Library Journal, 07/18/2005

Negotiators from the Toronto Public Library and the Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees June 15 worked out a tentative settlement at 6:30 a.m. after a long night of negotiations to avoid a strike by the facility’s 2400 workers set to begin that day. “The negotiating committee will recommend this agreement to our members in upcoming ratification votes,” 416’s president Brian Cochrane said. Full details of the agreement will not be made public until brought before members for ratification. According to the July 12 Toronto Star, librarians desired salary increases on a par with other city workers— roughly 3 percent annually for four years. According to the publication, protecting full-time jobs and procedures for posting open positions also were key issues in the negotiations between library executives and the union reps.