Toronto organ recipient is facing a life-and-death struggle again,
Friday agreement averted potential strike or lockout
The Toronto Zoo and the union representing 400 of its workers reached a tentative agreement Friday morning, after negotiations stretched beyond a midnight deadline.
Talks between both sides continued past 12:01 a.m., which meant workers had the legal right to strike, while management had the option of locking them out.
An agreement was finally reached at about 2 a.m., ending a prolonged bargaining session that began Thursday morning. Details of the agreement are not being released until union members review and vote on it early next week, said Kevin Wilson, spokesman for the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1600. “I’m not going to get into it right now,” said Wilson. “I just want to go and get some sleep.” Zoo workers have been advised to show up for work as scheduled. In an emailed statement Friday morning, CEO John Tracogna said the zoo had reached “a fair and reasonable” tentative agreement with its unionized employees. “We are hopeful the membership will support it during the ratification process,” he said. Collective bargaining began in February but, after weeks of deadlock, the city requested a “no board” report from the Ministry of Labour at the beginning of April. That allowed either side to trigger a work stoppage 17 days after the report was issued. The labour action could have halted the scheduled May 18 opening of the much-anticipated panda exhibit because of the amount of prep- aration still left to be done.
Local 1600 represents more than 400 zookeepers, horticulturalists, tradespeople, maintenance, administration and public relations staff, concession and ride operators at the Toronto Zoo. With files from Jessica McDiarmid