UPDATE: As of 4:51 p.m. the union announced that the City has agreed to resume talks on Wednesday, June 6.
“CUPE is committed to the hard work of truly negotiating to find a fair deal,” said Alison Denis, CUPE National Representative. “We need for the employer to be prepared to do the same. That’s the way that this strike ends – we both need to be willing to put in the work. That’s what negotiations look like. The City needs to be ready to do that work with us.”
CORNWALL, Ontario – As of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) state that they have yet to hear a response from the City of Cornwall to their invitation to return the bargaining table.
“The employer has not so far accepted our invitation to return to the bargaining table,” Andrea Addario, CUPE Communications Officer wrote Seaway News in an email. “We feel strongly that there is a resolve to this – but obviously they need to be here working with us to find it. Not returning to the table is irresponsible, and we hope the Mayor and Councillors can see that. That’s where you find the deal.”
The City had demanded that the unions vote on their final offer, which they presented to the negotiators on May 15, the day before the strike began. At the time, CUPE negotiators had refused to take the deal to their members, stating that it contained to many items that they had already rejected.
The City asked for a Ministry of Labour supervised vote, which would not have taken place before June 15. The union chose to vote on the deal on June 4 and it was rejected by a margin of 92.5 percent.
“When we invited the employer to return to bargaining, we inquired as to whether they would be withdrawing their request for a supervised vote, given that we did as they asked and put their last offer in front of our members for a vote,” Addario said. “They have yet to get back to us on that, too.”
Cornwall Seaway News reached out to the City of Cornwall for a comment on the recent vote and to ask if they would still pursue a Ministry of Labour supervised vote, but has yet to receive a comment.
