The Mayor and Council recognize the significant disruption the Civic Centre lockout is causing for families, children, seniors, user groups, businesses and others who rely on the facility. Council fully understands the Civic Centre’s importance to our community and disappointment being felt by those affected.
The responsibility of negotiating a fair deal rests with the City’s bargaining team, entrusted by Council to represent the City throughout this process. Council has full confidence in our bargaining team as they work toward a fair and sustainable collective agreement.
As Mayor and Council, our responsibility is to all residents and businesses who ultimately fund municipal services through their taxes. Decisions made at the bargaining table today will have financial consequences for years to come, affecting the City’s operating costs, the services it can provide, user fees and, ultimately, the mil rate.
We respect the position of CUPE 4386, their bargaining team and its responsibility to local members. Council believes that City employees deserve fair compensation, and the City’s position at the bargaining table reflects that. At the same time, fair compensation must be balanced with affordability and long-term fiscal responsibility.
Our negotiating team is not just bargaining with this union, right now. They must consider the long term. Tabling an offer that is not in line with collective agreements of other CUPE locals could set a costly precedent with future negotiations, and potential disruption to vital services. Based on the current collective agreements across CUPE locals, accepting the level of wage increases being sought CUPE 4386 could amount to approximately $2 million in 2029 when we get back to the bargaining table with the other two CUPE unions. In the next round of bargaining, they could very reasonably table packages requesting the same increase as CUPE Local 4386 is requesting today. Wage increases become ongoing financial obligations that would ultimately have to be addressed through increased taxes, higher costs for municipal services, reductions in services, or a combination of these measures.
Council also recognizes that the closure itself has financial consequences, including lost revenues and costs associated with maintaining and protecting the facility. These are real costs and are not being dismissed. However, temporary costs associated with a labour disruption must be weighed against permanent increases to the City’s operating expenses that continue year after year.
While we understand the very real impact this disruption is having on families and, particularly, children who are missing skating, programming and other activities our responsibility is to protect the long-term interest of the entire community. Council cannot agree to compensation demands simply to bring an immediate end to the disruption if those costs cannot be reasonably sustained in future budgets, particularly where the overall compensation for 4386 employees is already competitive with comparable employment in the province.
Council is working hard to maintain stable taxes at a time when residents and businesses are already facing increased costs in virtually every area. While the City is not immune to inflation and other financial pressures, Council does not believe residents should face premature tax increases to fund compensation costs it considers unsustainable.
Council remains committed to achieving a fair and sustainable collective agreement. We all want to see families, athletes and user groups back at the Civic Centre while providing fair compensation to our valued employees. Council’s goal is to achieve that while protecting both the services residents value today and our community’s ability to afford those services into the future.
