Chants of “solidarity” and “no contract, no peace” rang out on Thursday afternoon as city workers picketed outside Parkdale's Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre.
The workers, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 79 (CUPE79), could go on strike Monday morning if a new contract with the the City of Toronto isn’t finalized.
CUPE79 president Nas Yadollahi has said that union members are after better wages and benefits as the city struggles to retain workers.
The union for indoor city employees represents around 30,000 workers from areas like public health, ambulance dispatch, shelter services, water and food inspection, child care and long-term care, among others.
A strike would mean many city-run services, including 39 early learning and child care centres and recreation programs, would be cancelled.
The city said it tabled its “final offer” to the union on Wednesday, proposing a nearly 15 per cent wage increase to workers in all positions over four years.
Union members employed as child care aides, personal support workers and registered nurses would see even higher pay increases of 16.7, 16.8 and 22 per cent, respectively.
The offer from the city would eliminate minimum wage for all CUPE79 workers.
On Wednesday, Yadollahi said the city’s plan “still falls short.”
That message was echoed by union workers during Thursday’s rally, many who said the proposed wage increases still aren’t enough for CUPE79 members to afford living in Toronto.
“It's hard living paycheque to paycheque,” said Talla Ahmad, a part-time recreation worker who coordinates after-school programs. “We're having to go to food banks. We're having to use shelters.”
Ahmad said she makes slightly above minimum wage and doesn’t have access to benefits like paid sick leave or vacation days. She recently graduated from university and lives at home with her parents. Otherwise, she said she wouldn’t be able to afford to live near Toronto.
“Even living at home, my wages weren't enough to cover my college expenses. I had to go and get another job,” she said.
Ahmad noted the “livable wage” in Toronto was estimated to be about $26 an hour, according to the Ontario Living Wage Network. For her, a 15 per cent wage increase would still mean falling short far short of that figure.
“We're still going to be making poverty wages,” she said of the city’s offer.
Shlomo Roth, a part-time shelter outreach worker, said he’s also struggling to afford living in Toronto, even in a dual-income household.
“My wife and I have a child. Both of us are employed and it's very hard to make ends meet,” he said. “We're not sure if we're going to be able to raise our son in the city.”
Roth said CUPE79 members previously accepted contracts at the city that “didn't keep up, even a fraction, with inflation.”
The union’s previous contract spanned from 2020 to the end of 2024 and saw wages rise by 6.5 per cent during that timeframe. In the same period, inflation in Canada rose by 17.2 per cent.
Roth told TorontoToday CUPE79 members “do not want to disrupt other people's lives but we will not work for less than [we’re] worth.”
“We don't want to strike,” he said. “But if the city doesn't get serious at the bargaining table, the city is making that choice.”
If CUPE79 members go on strike, the city plans to redeploy non-unionized workers to fill roles left by their union colleagues, including in city-run homeless shelters, courts and 311 dispatch.
During Thursday’s rally, community organizers Brynne Sinclair-Waters, co-founder of Parents for Child Care, and Pam Frache of Justice for Workers delivered speeches.
Frache argued incoming U.S. tariffs will create an uncertain economic situation for all Torontonians. She said it’s more important than ever for the city to invest in public services like shelters and childcare to support Toronto’s most vulnerable populations.
“Not only is it just and right and moral to pay workers properly, but it is now an economic necessity,” Frache said. “This staffing crisis in the City of Toronto will not be up to the task of dealing with what's coming at us, and every level of government needs to prioritize investment in public services.”
The prospect of striking while the U.S. threatens 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods is “scary,” Roth said.
But an even scarier prospect is “living hand to mouth, cheque to cheque, forever because we're too scared to actually go get what we should get,” he said.
Ahmad agreed that striking in the current climate will be difficult but union members are up to the task.
“I'm ready — rain, shine, cold or snow,” she said. “We're gonna fight for what we deserve and what we are worth.”
