City, Union Butt Heads as Sunday Deadline Looms

Closed door negotiations between the city and its unionized workers appear to have morphed into a very public battle for the hearts and minds of Torontonians. Earlier today, CUPE Local 416 president Mark Ferguson emerged from meetings with the city to hold a news conference...a news conference in which he accused the city of trying to provoke a strike. Within a couple of hours the city was holding a news conference of its own, laying out almost line for line what its latest offer to CUPE had been. The negotiations - both public and private - have become increasingly tense as Sunday's deadline for a strike or lockout approaches. And CUPE isn't the only union feeling the heat these days.Laura Di Battista looked into the changing role of unions in general, and the City-CUPE impasse, with York University labour specialist Steven Tufts. Listen (runs 6:10)