A City of Toronto staff report to the City’s Executive Committee meeting on Monday, October 6 examines the issue of whether the City should request the Province of Ontario to declare transit an essential service in Toronto. If the Province declared transit an essential service, transit workers in Toronto would no longer have the right to withdraw their services during a labour dispute.
The report examines the options for, and the consequences of, designating transit essential, and outlines:
- different collective-bargaining dispute resolution methods used in union - management negotiations in North America;
- current federal and provincial legislation in Canada about collective bargaining and essential services;
- the cost of freely negotiating collective agreements and arbitrating agreements; and
- the impact on Toronto of a strike at the Toronto Transit Commission, including economic, health, traffic and environmental impacts.
The Executive Committee meets in Committee Room 1, Second Floor, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West at 9:30 a.m. on Monday. You can read the report here.