The Toronto Public Library's union says negotiations with the city have reached an impasse, and they've started the process that could lead to a work stoppage in the coming weeks.

The union, CUPE local 4948, has requested a so-called no board report from the province's Ministry of Labour. The ministry is expected to respond on Wednesday or Thursday.

If the report is accepted, a strike or a lockout could happen 17 days later.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, union president Maureen O'Reilly said the union has unique issues that need to be addressed, including that 75 per cent of the staff are women and 50 per cent are part-time.

O'Reilly said the union will not accept "things that are agreed to at other workplaces that aren't reflective of the needs of our workplace."

'Precarious workplace' union says

She said the workers don't have the benefits and pensions that others have, and are subject to a "precarious workplace."

The union intends to keep bargaining with the city, she said, noting that the library workers have not gone on strike since amalgamation.

Library board chair Coun. Paul Ainslie said he feels the negotiations have been going well.

"We’ve had very fulsome labour negotiations with them, we have never told our HR staff not to negotiate with the library union," he said. "We certainly haven’t mandated a take-no-prisoners approach to labour negotiations."

Unlike the city's outside workers, who never took a strike vote despite tense negotiations, the library union has already voted 91 per cent in favour of a work stoppage, if necessary.

The library system faced deep cuts during the city's budget process, though most were taken off the table after an outcry from the public, including a well publicized dispute between the mayor's brother, Doug Ford, and novelist Margaret Atwood.

"We hope that [the public's] good will continues throughout these negotiations," O'Reilly said.