Talks between Vancouver and its striking unions broke down Thursday, with the union saying there was a complete lack of progress at the bargaining table and the city claiming CUPE walked away.

The unions — CUPE 1004, 391 and 15 — unilaterally lifted the media blackout Thursday evening, and accused city negotiators of having no interest in discussing issues important to the civic workers during the six days of negotiations, such as pay equity.

The civic strike in Vancouver began on July 20, halting residential garbage pickups, reducing municipal services and closing libraries.
(CBC)

"We are extremely frustrated," said Alex Youngberg, president of Local 391, which represents 800 library workers in Vancouver.

"The employer has clearly stated that they have no interest in negotiating any of our key issues, like pay equity. This is despite recently ratified pay-equity gains made in Burnaby. We can't reach a collective agreement with this kind of stonewalling," she said in a news release.

City officials spent little time in face-to-face negotiations, said Paul Foaro, president of Local 15, representing 3,500 inside civic workers.

"The past six days have been déjà vu," Foaro said. "Last time we met with this employer, they spent two hours and 22 minutes out of two days actually meeting with us. The rest of the time, they caucused amongst themselves.

"This time, it's worse. Out of a possible six days, we spent four hours and 13 minutes with the employer," Foaro said.

But Gerry Dobrovolny, a spokesman for the City of Vancouver, told CBC News "that's absolutely ridiculous."

"We've spent five full days. The city had 23 people on the negotiating team. We had five general managers and the deputy city manager."

Dobrovolny said much of the bargaining happened in back rooms, with one-on-one meetings in hallways.

He said it's the union that has walked away from the bargaining table.

Civic strike likely to continue

Mike Jackson, president of Local 1004 representing 1,800 outside workers, said the civic strike which began on July 20, would drag on a long time if the city continues to stall.

Since the full-blown strike, residential garbage pickups have been suspended, municipal services at city hall reduced, and 22 library branches closed.

Vancouver city officials had not commented on the break-off of talks as of 6 p.m. Thursday.

The unions are holding an emergency meeting Thursday night to discuss their next actions.

Other municipalities in the Lower Mainland, such as North Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Delta and Richmond reached agreements with their unions over the last two weeks — all based on a five-year deal with a 17.5 per cent wage increase.