City of Toronto’s Garbage Strike Goes to Court

The City of Toronto has been dealing with a strike for the past month which has included most garbage removal services.

The City’s health officer noticed the beginnings of a fly infestation at the temporary garbage site at Christie Pitts on July 3, 2009 and ordered that pest control be undertaken.

When the pest control truck arrived on scene, the union picketers appeared to refuse to allow the pest control person access to the garbage site, even though the union was given a copy of order from the City health inspector.

The next day, the City went to Court and obtained a four day injunction against the union – the union was not allowed to block access to the garbage site to any pest control inspector assigned by the City.

Even though the City won this issue in Court and incurred expenses and legal fees to gain access to the garbage site to control the expected infestation, it appears that the City did not ask the Court to award its legal costs for having to bring this motion.

The case is Toronto (City) v. Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 416 (2009 Ontario Superior Court of Justice).
Gregory Chang
Toronto Insurance Litigation Lawyer