Garbage strike averted with tentative agreement

The city and Hamilton's largest union have reached a tentative agreement just hours before a strike deadline.

Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 5167) would have been in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Local 5167 represents workers in trash collection, recreation and roads, which all could have been disrupted had the two sides not come together.

"The two parties met all day today and late into the evening with a provincially-appointed conciliator," city spokesperson Mike Kirkopolous said in an email.

"The tentative agreement reached comes after twenty-five days of negotiations over the last four months."

In an email to council, Kirkopolous said the agreement "falls within council's mandate," but didn't give specifics on numbers or any wage increases.

The CUPE negotiating committee will present the tentative agreement to union membership next Monday with a recommendation to accept the deal.