No talks with stagehands, Ex as CNE finale looms

Talks between the union representing Toronto stagehands and Exhibition Place are on the rocks after just one full day of negotiation, with no further meetings scheduled for the CNE’s final week.

Local 58 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and the Exhibition Place Board of Governors met Friday.

But the key issue — whether or not tenants at Exhibition Place should be allowed to bring in their own workers — is proving intractable. More than 400 stagehands and technical workers have been locked out since July 20.

On Monday night, the union proposed meeting on Wednesday or Thursday, but said it has not yet received a response.

Last week, the CNE said it expected the labour dispute to cost the fair $1.5 million in reduced attendance and called “on all parties to come together to en- sure the 2018 CNE is a success for the 1.6 million people who make our fair part of their annual end-of-summer tradition.”

That tradition usually concludes with thousands of Labour Day parade-goers attending the CNE.

IATSE Local 58 president Justin Antheunis said if workers are still locked out, the parade would end at Lamport Stadium instead and no admissions wristbands would be handed out.

Board of Governors chair and city councillor for Etobicoke-Lakeshore Mark Grimes said Exhibition Place provided a “comprehensive proposal” aimed at ensuring the competitiveness of the venue but received a “partial response” from the union Sunday.

“It did nothing to move the parties closer to a resolution of the outstanding issues,” he said.

Antheunis said Exhibition Place’s proposal did not “have any movement” on the union’s key concern: contracting out IATSE jobs.