City workers protest in front on London's City Hall. May 25, 2015. Photo by Ashton Patis. City workers protest in front on London's City Hall. May 25, 2015. Photo by Ashton Patis.
London

UPDATE: City Clarifies Position To Union

City of London negotiators say the wording of their latest proposal may be behind the latest impasse, and they'd like to clear it up.

Late Tuesday night, the city issued a statement to correct what it says may have been a miscommunication that caused CUPE Local 101 negotiators to walk away from talks:

"Wording in the city’s proposal may have given the impression the city could potentially hire up to 2,500 part-time workers to work Sunday shifts. That is not the city's intention. The actual total number of part-time, unionized workers proposed for the Sunday shifts is no more than 25."

The city's lead negotiator, Adriana Hagan, says replacing full-time workers with part-time employees was never the intention.

“We would only employ part-time staff to fill those Sunday shifts that full-time Local 101 staff do not choose to work," she says.

As talks once again broke down, the union accused the city of introducing new contract terms at this late stage. Hagan says she hopes this clears up the confusion and restarts negotiations. Inside workers have been on strike for 45 days.

The city’s negotiating team has since extended an invitation to the union to resume contract talks. The invitation was sent to the mediator Tuesday night and forwarded to the union Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, CUPE Local 101 is holding a Special Membership Meeting to bring members up to date on contract talks on Thursday, 6pm, at the Canada Building, Western Fair District.

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