In a special summer session, the Ontario provincial legislature yesterday passed a back-to-work bill ending a strike by Toronto City workers in its third week and requiring city and union leaders to take the matter to binding arbitration before a neutral to be recommended by the parties and chosen by the provincial government. Triggered by city proposals to privatize municipal services, the strike was both a protest against privatization and an attempt to win greater job security for workers whose jobs are privatized (see WIT for July 5, 2002). While unions are expected to call the strike off, city employees are far from satisfied with the outcome and removal of the garbage piled up throughout Toronto may take significantly longer than the ten days predicted by Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman.
See "Toronto Set to Dig Itself Out, From Two Weeks of Garbage", CLIFFORD KRAUSS, The New York Times, July 11, 2002