City Misleads Public as Workers Prepare for Strike

The City of Toronto could be facing major disruptions to essential services in the next three weeks. The union representing 30,000 city workers has filed for a "no-board" report—formal notice issued by the Province when an agreement cannot be reached between the union and employer. Workers will be in a legal strike position at 12:01 a.m. on March 8, having received the no-board report from the Ministry of Labour on February 19.

While the City of Toronto is proposing a 15% wage increase over four years, and claims to "focus on achieving a fair and reasonable collective agreement that recognizes the vital contributions of City employees while ensuring value for Toronto residents and businesses", this does not paint the whole picture for the public, and neglects to explain why 90% of these workers are ready to strike.

City workers, who provide essential services such as ambulance dispatch, child and long-term care, and public health, have pointed out that they have low wages which are not keeping up with inflation. Prices in Canada have increased by 18% since 2020, whilst wages for city workers have only increased by 6.4%—a 12% real wage reduction.

Should the union accept the city's offer, workers would receive a real wage cut of 3% since their last collective deal, not accounting for future inflation. Further concessions the city seeks to impose is requiring workers to pay 10% of their health plan premiums, or $862 annually for benefit coverage.

At the same time, the City of Toronto is offering wage cuts to employees; politicians, managers, and bureaucrats have found their raises far exceeded inflation over the last five years:

• The Chief Financial Officer received a 24% salary increase between 2019 and 2023
• General Manager of Senior Services and Long-Term Care, Jennifer Dockery received a 112% raise between 2021 and 2023; a time when Canada's long-term care system collapsed, and thousands of elders died isolated, separated from their families.
• Paul Johnson, City Manager, received a 28% salary increase between 2022 and 2023 and is the highest-municipal Chief Administrative Officer in the province.

Although Mayor Olivia Chow says she "really appreciate all those workers," the city has made the point to remind workers that should they go on strike, they will be stripped of health care and long-term care benefits.