Vancouver's inside workers and city negotiators will resume talks Friday morning, while outside workers filed a complaint with the B.C. Labour Relations Board over the city's use of volunteers to clean up after fireworks on Wednesday night.

Keith Graham, chief negotiator for CUPE Local 15, said the two sides had been conducting behind-the-scene talks and decided to get back to the bargaining table.

Keith Graham, chief negotiator for CUPE Local 15, says he's anxious to return to the bargaining table.
(CBC)

CUPE Local 15 represents 3,500 striking inside workers, who will stay on the picket lines as talks resume. Their job action has shut down community centres, including city-run day-care facilities, as well as reduced municipal services at city hall.

"I think the Richmond deal probably has pushed everybody to the point of saying maybe we should take a look at that and see what it looks like," Graham told CBC News.

"I don't know if I'm optimistic … I'm certainly anxious to return to the bargaining table."

Richmond 1,300 municipal workers, members of CUPE locals 394 and 718, on Wednesday and Thursday voted in favour of a new contract, which includes a 17.5 per cent salary increase over five years.

CUPE Local 1004 president Mike Jackson says the city should not have recruited volunteers to pick up garbage after fireworks on Wednesday night.
(CBC)

Meanwhile, CUPE Local 1004, representing 1,800 striking outside workers in Vancouver, is angry that the City of Vancouver arranged for a large number of volunteers to help pick up garbage after the fireworks.

Union president Mike Jackson told CBC News they filed a grievance with the Labour Relations Board, saying the employer breached the guidelines of a civic strike.

Jackson also said his local is also ready to get back to bargaining but the city has not returned their calls.

The outside workers walked off the job on July 20, shutting down all residential garbage collection and many other services.

Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan suggested on Wednesday that the city and its employees should consider new talks based on a five-year deal reached by the City of Richmond and its civic workers.

A five-year deal would meet his conditions that there be labour peace during the 2010 Winter Olympics and no collective bargaining during a civic election, Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, CUPE Local 389, which represents striking municipal employees in North Vancouver, announced Thursday evening that they are in the process of scheduling a return to the bargaining table sometime next week.