City, union reach tentative agreement to avert strike
Thousands of workers expected to vote next week on terms of deal
The City of Edmonton and Civic Service Union (CSU) 52 reached a tentative deal Thursday morning, averting a strike and signalling the winding down of a long-standing labour dispute.
The deal is set to be presented next week to more than 5,000 clerical, technical, administrative and other civic workers to vote whether to accept the terms, according to CSU 52's website. More details about the pending memorandum of agreement are expected to be released Friday.
Negotiations for workers at the Edmonton Public Library in a separate bargaining unit resumed Thursday afternoon. But it was unclear by print deadline whether libraries would open for regular hours Friday.
CSU 52 announced the tentative agreement early Thursday morning. Spokesperson Jenny Adams told Postmedia both parties needed to review the fine print.
A joint statement from city council and city administration followed later in the afternoon.
“We are pleased to confirm that a tentative agreement has been reached,” read a statement attributed to Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and Andre Corbould in a news release.
“While we cannot predict the outcome of the ratification, we are pleased that Edmontonians will continue to receive high-quality programs and services while this process unfolds.”
The city won't release details of the agreement until it has been ratified “out of respect for that process,” the statement continued.
CSU 52 served a 72-hour notice Monday with workers expected to strike starting at 11 a.m. Thursday. The city was preparing for significant and widespread disruptions across a spectrum of city services and facilities this week. Recreation centres, pools, libraries, and city attractions such as the Edmonton Valley Zoo and Muttart Conservatory were set to close to the public, except for some prearranged activities.
But the onset was delayed by 24 hours — the city, library and union announced early Thursday action would begin 11 a.m. Friday instead.
Then, another development: the city and union had come to an arrangement. By the afternoon, the union's website had removed a list of 12 locations for picket lines while announcing negotiations were underway with the library. A city web page created ahead of the strike was also updated to remove references to a long list of disruptions, saying: “city services are resuming.”
News of the pending deal came after city administrators and union leadership resumed bargaining Wednesday evening.
Edmonton city council, too, also met in a brief private meeting at city hall Thursday morning. While city administrators conduct negotiations, city council sets the bargaining mandates and must approve agreements.
The private meeting Thursday morning wasn't previously on the city hall meeting schedule. Council added the session late the night before on the second day of lengthy and primarily in-camera meetings where councillors discussed, at least in part, the labour dispute.
Council passed a motion approving a list of undisclosed actions in a private report for the city manager to undertake just after 9:30 a.m.
The day's events reflected a significant shift after the city and union had reached an impasse.
Despite workers rejecting the city's previous offer via a direct vote, and a strong strike mandate, city council and administration doubled down on the city's prior offer earlier this week, saying it was “fair and equitable.”
Council warned giving the union what they requested could result in an additional 2.5 per cent increase to 2024 property taxes because of cascading impacts to other staff wages, both for non-unionized employees and other unions.
Clerical, communications, and IT staff, along with 911 dispatchers and front-facing recreation centre staff are among this group of City of Edmonton employees hoping to set a new contract.
EPL employees, in a separate bargaining unit, are also negotiating a deal.
Both groups have been without a contract since 2020.