It looks like garbage and recycling collectors in Windsor will stay on the job for the foreseeable future.
A tentative agreement has been reached between GFL Environmental Inc. in Windsor and its employees represented by Unifor Local 444. No details about the deal have been provided but talks went on for several weeks. A ratification vote will be held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Unifor Local 444 Hall at Turner and Tecumseh.
Unifor Local 444 members employed at GFL Environmental voted 78 per cent in favour of a strike if necessary in mid-November.
The City of Windsor contracted out garbage services almost a decade ago to save money after a contentious 101-day strike in the summer of 2009 involving 1,800 city workers. The city unanimously gave Green For Life a seven-year contract extension in 2016. The private company provided the city with the lowest bid in the amount of $1,651,543 annually.
CUPE Local 82 also submitted a proposal to return waste and recycling collection in-house, however, their proposal was an additional $3.9 million in operational costs over the seven-year contract. Bringing the collection back in-house could have also resulted in an additional $8.3 million in capital costs.