A city-halting strike was averted Tuesday with the city and its unionized staff reaching a tentative agreement.
The deal was struck in the late afternoon, following a day-long negotiation session between the city's bargaining team and that of the Canadian Union of Public Employees locals 1048 and 399.
"Both parties have worked hard and compromised to reach a settlement that is fair to both employees and the taxpayers and we are pleased - very pleased - that no further job action will be undertaken," said operations superintendent and city bargaining spokesperson Bill Gaal.
After more than a year without a contract, the new agreement could be ratified by CUPE membership as early as Thursday, said local 1048 president Janet Bigelow. No details about the deal have been released.
"We want the members and mayor and council to vote on it first and then you'll receive details after that," Bigelow said.
Negotiations began early last year following the expiration of CUPE's previous five-year contract on Dec. 31, 2012.
Going through her first set of negotiations as union president, Bigelow said she didn't know what to expect at the beginning of the process.
"It's been a long, hard year, but we've come to an agreement and we worked together," said Bigelow. "And so it's good it's done."
Negotiations appeared rocky from the beginning of the process as the union expressed disappointment in the city's decision to hire Vancouver-based labour lawyer Adriana Wills as part of its bargaining team in January.
Gaal said he didn't think that Wills' inclusion "changed the process at all."
While job security and hours of work were cited as early points of contention, the final sticking point came down to wages. The city continuously said there was no money to offer wage increases to unionized staff.
In September, union members voted 93 per cent in favour of giving their bargaining team a strike mandate and on Dec. 14, workers staged a one-day strike - the first in the city's history.
The 14 hours of job action followed months of rejected offers and the controversial inclusion of questions about the competing proposals and employee wages on a telephone survey conducted by the city for public budget consultation purposes.
"It was a long windy road and when it came down to the crunch both sides agreed to sit at the table and pound this out and that's exactly what we did," said CUPE local 399 president Gary Campbell. "And I agree with Mr. Gaal; we came up with an agreement that I'm hoping members are going to be happy with and I believe the public will be happy with it as well."
Tuesday's round of talks was kickstarted by a proposal CUPE made to the city on Jan. 5.
Beginning at 10 a.m. talks continued through the day, except for an hour's break for lunch, until Gaal, Bigelow and Campbell announced the agreement shortly before 5 p.m. A major clue to the outcome of the day came shortly before 4:30 p.m. when a burst of applause and cheers erupted from the city hall conference room where talks were taking place.
On Monday, Campbell had said the employees were ready to stage a full strike unless the city came to the table willing to negotiate in a manner they found reasonable.
That threat of further strike action didn't have any effect on Tuesday's discussion, said Gaal.
"I believe both parties have always worked towards this day and the day was like all the other meeting days. We worked hard to reach an agreement," he said. "I think when you go into negotiations you always hope for a speedy set of negotiations. This was a bit longer, but we're here now and that's the good news."
