CORRECTED - UPDATE 2-Toronto reaches deal with outdoor workers - union

Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:17pm EDT

(Corrects length of strike in first bullet point to 35 days from 15)

* Tentative deal to end 35-day strike

* Details of agreement yet to be disclosed

* City still talking with second union local (Adds details, comments)

By Frank Pingue

TORONTO, July 27 (Reuters) - The city of Toronto has reached a tentative deal to settle a strike by outside civic workers that had halted garbage collection and other services for more than a month, union officials said on Monday.

The union representing about 6,200 outdoor workers in Canada's largest city gave no details of the agreement, which must still be voted on by union members.

A deal with a second striking union, which represents Toronto's indoor workers, including city-run daycares and building permit offices, is still pending.

"The deal that we reached we believe to be a fair deal," Mark Ferguson, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416, told a televised news conference.

"There were compromises made in a number of different areas but it is a deal that we are proud of."

If the agreement is ratified, the city workers could be back on the job by Thursday.

During the strike the city set up temporary dumps in parks across the city, while most street-side garbage bins overflowed onto sidewalks. But Mayor David Miller took a tough line and polls put public opinion firmly behind the city.

At the center of the contract dispute was a policy that allowed workers to bank unused sick days and cash them in when they retire. The city said that is too costly.

During the strike, 500,000 households were without garbage service, public litter bins were sealed and a fine for illegal dumping was enforced.

A spokeswoman CUPE Local 79, which represents about 18,000 of Toronto's indoor workers, was not available for comment on the progress of those talks with the city.

Ryan Domsy, a financial analyst at DBRS rating service, said that while he has yet to see details of the tentative agreement he did not expect it to affect Toronto's sound 'AA' credit profile.

However, he said that an agreement out of line with market conditions could erode some of the fiscal flexibility earned in recent years and further drive up property tax rates.

When the strike began on June 22, Domsy called it part of the normal operations of a city and that it showed Toronto is being responsible with its spending.

The tentative agreement in Toronto comes just days after unionized workers in Windsor ratified a deal to end a 101-day strike that also halted garbage pickup in the southwestern Ontario city, across from Detroit.

($1=$1.08 Canadian)

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