Let the public bargaining begin! On the heels of CUPE Local 416's public offer to freeze its wages for the next three years, the City of Toronto has responded with a new offer that I'm guessing won't do much to get the union excited about the prospects of banging out a new contract anytime soon.

According to a press release distributed by the city, the following concessions are the centrepiece of the new offer:

• it provides for the continuation of employment security in regards to contracting out for those employees with 25 years or more of seniority,
• it provides for modest, one-time lump sum wage payments, and
• it provides for a four-year contract term that seeks to create labour stability for an additional year.

So while Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday says this offer reflects his administration's "continuing commitment to get a negotiated settlement with Local 416 and avoid a labour disruption," the restriction of job security provisions to those who have a minimum of 25 years seniority ain't likely to placate the union.

Similarly, the City isn't taken by the union's latest offer. "Local 416's announcement of a wage freeze does not address those restrictive [job security] provisions, except to maintain them for three more years..." Holyday said.

In other words, a labour disruption looks as likely as ever.

Photo by Neil Ta in the theGentries Flickr pool