[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto library workers say they’re heading for strike"

[rfmcdonald]

Metro Toronto reports.

More than 2,000 library workers will strike Monday, shutting Toronto's 100 branches, unless the city gets serious about negotiating a new contract, their union says.

With a strike or lockout possible at midnight Sunday, talks are at a “crisis point,” Maureen O'Reilly, president of CUPE Local 4948, told reporters Wednesday.

“I am extremely concerned about the state of negotiations right now,” O'Reilly said, and if they don't improve library staff will be on picket lines Monday instead of opening branches.

A settlement is still possible, she said, but the city is offering nothing to address the “crisis” of precarious work. Fifty per cent of the membership works part-time under unstable working conditions.