WINDSOR, ONT. -- The City of Windsor and the union representing its “outside workers” ratified a new one-year collective agreement Sunday.

Leadership with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 82 and city administration decided to seek a one-year-term to closely mirror the terms of the previous contract “in recognition of the difficulties that longer-term negotiations would have placed on both parties during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” a news release from the City of Windsor says.

Approved terms include:

  • One-year contract, to expire Dec. 31, 2021
  • A 1.25 per cent economic increase for 2021
  • Employer to pay Ontario Dental Association 2021 rates for dental services
  • Rolling over contract terms with the vast majority of all contract language remaining the same

The increase is in line with previous raises in each year of the contract term which the city says “secured harmony with the City of Windsor’s outside workers just as the winter maintenance season begins.”

The civic employees, known as the “outside workers,” work in a variety of departments including environmental, facilities, forestry, horticulture, parks and recreation, public works, waste water treatment and pollution control.

CUPE Local 82 ratified the deal Sunday with a 98 per cent affirmative vote.

In the spring and summer, the city worked with CUPE Local 82 to redeploy staff from municipal operations to community organizations in need of support during the pandemic. Staff have helped primarily at the Unemployed Help Centre with food hamper sorting and assembly, drive-thru pickup, the June 27 Miracle and others.

Some members were also redeployed to Huron Lodge to assist with screening of visitors at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they assisted with enhanced cleaning throughout the corporation.

The City of Windsor says the same terms as ratified by CUPE Local 82 are being applied to non-union city employees for 2021. Contract discussions with CUPE Local 543 remain ongoing in the hopes of reaching a similar one-year agreement to extend the expiring collective agreement.