Ottawa garbage collectors vote to strike
Last Updated: Thursday, March 18, 2010 | 7:11 PM ET
CBC News
Garbage and recycling pickup could be disrupted in some parts of Ottawa starting at the end of April.
Garbage collectors who work in the city's west end have voted 90 per cent in favour of going on strike if they fail to reach an agreement with their employer, BFI Canada Inc., the Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a news release Thursday.
The strike vote was held Wednesday among the 40 BFI employees represented by CUPE Local 1338-02.
The company has a contract to collect residential waste in Kanata, Bells Corners, West Carleton and other parts of Ottawa west of Highway 416, said Daniel Sauve, president of the union local. It also collects commercial waste across the city.
Sauve said workers will likely either walk off the job or be locked out on April 24 because that was the deadline set by the employer during talks with an Ontario Labour Relations Board conciliator earlier in the month.
Sauve said health benefits are the main issue of disagreement between the two sides, with BFI workers demanding the same level of benefits as employees of two other waste management companies in Ottawa get.
The workers have been without a contract since Jan. 1.
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