Vancouver's four-week-old civic strike could stretch past Labour Day and into the fall, a city spokesman predicted Monday.

"Our past strikes have lasted on the order of six to eight weeks and if that's an indication of where we are this time then that's how long it might last," Jerry Dobrovolny said.

A sea of CUPE members protested at Vancouver City Hall on Friday, calling on a better deal to settle the prolonged civic strike.
(CBC)

Talks between the three CUPE locals and the city broke off Thursday, with both sides saying there was little progress toward a settlement. No talks are scheduled.

One of the main sticking points for both sides appears to be job security.

CUPE Local 15, which represents 3,500 inside workers, said on Monday, it's fighting privatization of certain jobs and wants a "no-contracting-out" clause in the new contract.

"[They are] talking about alternative service deliveries, which basically is contracting out or turning over city services to for-profit delivery," said Paul Faoro, the local's president.

The city's said the union's concerns are unfounded, and it said it has no intention of contracting out key city services.

"The question is to point to what evidence there is and what concerns there are," Dobrovolny said. "There have been no significant layoffs in the city for over the last decade. For a very, very large workforce, that's unusual."

Outside workers in Vancouver walked off the job on July 20, forcing the city to suspend some services, including residential garbage collection. Vancouver's inside workers walked off the job on July 23, affecting services such as city-run day-care facilities, building inspections and parking bylaw enforcement. Library workers in Vancouver walked off July 26.

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

The cities of North Vancouver, Langley and White Rock are still negotiating with their unions. Bargaining has yet to begin in New Westminster, Coquitlam, Township of Langley, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.