City of Edmonton workers vote 91% in favour of strike action

A file photo of Edmonton City Hall.

The union representing 6,000 Edmonton civic workers says 91 per cent of those that cast a ballot are in favour of strike action.

Civic Service Union 52 saw 83 per cent of eligible City of Edmonton members vote Saturday to Monday in support of a strike mandate, with results coming five days after 93 per cent of Edmonton Public Library members also represented by the union voting 94 per cent in favour of going on strike.

"It is clear that city council and administration are out of touch with their employee base," Lanny Chudyk, president of CSU 52, said on Tuesday afternoon in a media release .

"Our members have sent a very clear message: they will not settle for an unfair agreement and watch as dollars are continuously mispent without considering those who actually perform the front-line, core services on behalf of Edmontonians."

Chudyk said the union members don't want services they provide disrupted and that the union's goal "is still to reach a fair and equitable settlement."

CSU 52 represents 6,000 technical, professional, administrative and clerical workers between the bargaining units for city and library workers.

The union applied for a strike vote following a mandatory 14-day cooling-off period that ended Jan. 30.

That came after "a lack of movement" in contract negotiations between the city and the bargaining units, CSU52 said in late January.

The City of Edmonton, which has offered a 7.25-per-cent wage increase over five years to the workers, applied last week to the Alberta Labour Relations Board for approval of a lockout poll.

CSU 52 told CTV News Edmonton last week that the Edmonton Public Library has also applied to the labour board for a lockout poll. The union bargaining unit for library employees is separate from the city workers.

The city's and library's applications are the first step toward a potential lockout.

Applying for a lockout poll will allow the city to lock out workers during a strike "to minimize disruption to city services," the city said on Friday.