The CUPE Local 4705 Outside Unit ratified their collective agreement with the City of Greater Sudbury on Monday night with a vote of 59 per cent.
The union announced the news on social media, in which they thanked members for coming out to ratify the agreement.
Sudbury.com left a message with the union office requesting comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
Earlier this month, the union of city employees appeared on the verge of strike action, until union leadership capped off a “marathon meeting” by reaching a tentative agreement with the city.
“After a total of 20 days at the table, I am proud to announce the bargaining teams have signed a tentative agreement for our Outside Unit workers that meets the needs of our residents and improves work/life balance for our employees,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre said in a media release at the time.
“Thank you to our staff and to our union partners for the time and diligence that has gone into this process. I look forward to continuing our valuable work for the greater good of the residents of this community.”
The CUPE executive team held ratification meetings with their members leading up to this week’s vote.
“I am proud of the bargaining team and of my coworkers for sending a powerful message and for the work we’ve done at the table,” CUPE Local 4705 president Bryan Keith said earlier this month.
CUPE Local 4705 represents approximately 1,500 municipal workers. Of them, more than 1,000 are full- and part-time workers — classified as “inside workers” — in office work, clerical, technical, leisure programming, transit, libraries, museums, paramedical and social services. This is the Inside Unit.
More than 500 members of the local are classified as “outside workers,” responsible for mechanical work, maintenance on roads, parks and recreation maintenance, building maintenance, water and wastewater, and airport maintenance. This is the Outside Unit.
The Inside Unit agreed to a deal in July highlighted by three per cent annual general wage increases. It was agreed to by members with a vote of 91.8 per cent, and ratified during a closed session of city council on July 11.
When it came to the Outside Unit, the key sticking points in their collective bargaining agreement with the city were provisions for forced overtime and rotating weekend shifts.
The forced overtime would affect winter sidewalk maintenance crews, who are currently requested, but not mandated, to work overtime when needed. In the proposed agreement, all distribution and collection staff (water/wastewater) would be made to work rotating weekends, which they are not currently made to do.
It has not yet been publicly shared how the ratified agreement dealt with these concerns.