Part-time recreation employees have ratified a new four-year contract with the City of Toronto.
The 8,600 workers comprise the third of four bargaining units to accept a deal between the city and Local 79 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Members of two other bargaining units, representing full-time and part-time workers, accepted the city’s original offer, but the two sides went back to the bargaining table after the recreation part-timers voted it down.
“New adjustments included an increase to the amount of hours an employee is allowed to work in a particular position and paid time for mandatory recertification, which addressed some of our members’ concerns,” said Tim Maguire, president of Local 79. “This amended offer was the best settlement we could reach under the circumstances.”
All full-time and most part-time city employees have now ratified new contracts. A fourth bargaining unit, representing part-time employees of long-term care facilities, also rejected the offer, but that dispute will be settled through binding arbitration.
