In order to avoid a strike and continue to deliver services in the City of Greater Sudbury, municipal workers are calling on City Council to return early to ensure workers get a deal, says CUPE Local 4705.“The employer is still making unreasonable demands, like unfair scheduling that potentially puts Sudbury residents at risk and forcing overtime on stretched-thin workers, and we are now possibly headed towards a strike as early as August 9,” said Bryan Keith, President of CUPE Local 4705, representing the unit of roughly 500 outside workers approaching the strike deadline. “We want to continue delivering the services residents rely on so we’re calling on City Council to return early to ensure workers get a deal.”
The City of Sudbury City Council is the body that sets the mandate and the direction for the employer when they bargain with workers. They have the power to side with these workers and remove the employers’ demands from the table. But since City Council is not in session until August 15, the union is encouraging them to return early, ahead of an important mediation date happening on August 8th, to ensure that workers get a deal and to guarantee continued services without disruptions.
“We are willing to go on strike if it means taking these unreasonable demands off the table, but we’d rather get a good deal ahead of the deadline and deliver critical services to our community,” said Max Lafontaine, Vice-President of CUPE Local 4705.
Members of the union will be handing out flyers and talking with the public about their services, their bargaining, and why they want to avert a strike at the Summer Market this Saturday from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at 233 Elgin Street at Via Rail.