U of T plumbers and steamfitters hit the picket lines on Thursday, saying that the cost of living in Toronto has outstripped their wage increases in recent years.
“I think the plumbers average about thirteen emergency calls a day,” said Doug Colby, a sheet metal worker at U of T.
“It’s an important little department that no one really realizes is here until the water is flowing through their ceiling.”
The union is asking for a 10 per cent raise over three years. A tentative agreement reached with the university was rejected by members at their ratification meeting last Tuesday, and another round of negotiations broke off on Friday.
“I’d like to get it over with and get back to work,” said plumber Joe McNeal. “I don’t think it’s good for anybody down at the university to have people out on strike to be honest with you.”
McNeal says the main issue is the fact that trade services received only a nine per cent pay increase over the last nine years, which was far outstripped by cost of living increases.
On the picket line, Jim Archer, who has been working as a plumber at U of T for 44 years, succinctly explained the impact that this strike could have: “Think of sanitation; think of potable water; that’s what we do; that’s plumbing.”
“We’re just trying to get something fair and equitable. That’s it,” said plumber Gerry Legere. “We’re all sticking together.”
“Everybody can read the newspaper and see what type of pay increases are going on in the real world,” added Colby.
U of T Human Resources Director Brian Marshall didn’t expect a strike. He cites the fact that the university has reached settlements with many trade service workers, including machinists and locksmiths, aerospace workers, carpenters and engineers.
“I think the record should speak for itself,” he said.
The unions that recently reached agreements, as well as others such as the plumbers, sheet metal workers, electricians and painters, arranged in previous years to ensure all their contracts came up at the same time this year.
Colby and McNeal are wary of the university’s tendency to stagger and then compare negotiations between trade service unions, saying in the past this has resulted in much lower wage increases in the trades compared to elsewhere.
“I think on the whole everybody is going to get a better deal because we were all up for contract at the same time,” said McNeal.
Plumbers and steamfitters are resisting a three-year contract.
