Last-ditch talks between the Art Gallery of Ontario and the union representing almost 430 of its full-time and part-time employees have averted a strike that would have seen picket lines surrounding the gallery this Victoria Day weekend.
A tentative deal was announced Friday afternoon by AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum and Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 535 representative Paula Whitmore. Details are to be revealed to union members at a ratification vote expected May 27.
Workers, who have been without a contract since November last year, were in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. Friday. Previously, they had voted 96.4 per cent in favour of a strike if a deal could not be reached. Talks, which have been overseen by a government-appointed conciliator since mid-April, resumed Thursday after breaking off May 10. With negotiations continuing until 3:30 a.m. Friday, the union postponed going on strike until 12 noon. After a recess, talks began again, continuing through noon until the tentative deal was reached around 3:30 p.m.
Issues in negotiations related to contracting-out language, hours and job security. Relations between the union and management have been strained for more than a year after the AGO announced in March of 2009 that its revenues were 20 per cent shy of projections and that layoffs were inevitable. Twenty-three permanent staff were laid off three weeks later, at the same time as management elected not to renew 47 contract workers.
In March, the AGO announced it would lay off 37 more OPSEU-represented employees to permit the start of construction on the new state-of-the-art Weston Education Centre.