TORONTO – Hundreds of members of the Toronto Civic Employees’ Union (CUPE Local 416) turned out on February 10 for an emergency meeting to discuss Mayor Ford’s notice of his plan to contract out curbside garbage collection west of Yonge St.
“Based on the sign in sheets and the forms members signed committing to work on our campaign, I can confidently say we had over 600 members at the meeting,” said Mark Ferguson president of CUPE Local 416.
“I was overwhelmed by the number of members who came to the meeting,” said Ferguson. “Not only did huge numbers of our affected members come to the meeting, hundreds of members who are not solid waste collectors were also there and have committed to working on our campaign to stop the needless contracting out of our work.”
Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario, John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York District Labour Council were on hand to bring support from the labour movement. A number of City Councilors were also present bringing their good will and promising support when the vote goes to City Council.
The cheering overflow, standing room only crowd promised to be on side with the union’s plans.
For more information, please contact:
Wendy Forbes
CUPE Communications Representative
416-292-3999