‘NOT SUSTAINABLE’: Toronto City Council staff push for unionization
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We’re finally seeing some meaningful unity at Toronto City Council – among the politicians’ staff, anyway.
Councillors’ employees have filed to be represented by AMAPCEO, the union that represents workers in Ontario’s public service and a number of workplaces tied to government.
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On Thursday, AMAPCEO put up a statement saying 60% of council staff had signed onto the effort, marking the first step toward unionization.
A pro-union staffer, who agreed to speak to the Toronto Sun on the condition they not be identified, said the labour effort is essential to protect the “most forgotten workers at City Hall.”
“We love the work that we do,” the person told the Sun, but added: “Pay is very low, benefits are not really good, and so that results in high turnover.”
Salaries for council staff start at just over $30,000, and many of them make less than $50,000, the source said.
“A lot of staffers here have families and kids, and it’s just not sustainable for anyone,” the person added.
Other issues include HR matters, such as overtime.
“Every councillor office is sort of their own individual island” in terms of working conditions and quality of management, the staffer said.
AMAPCEO said the hypothetical bargaining unit would be made up of roughly 170 employees, including non-management staff in the mayor’s office. Councillors’ chiefs of staff would be excluded as management, the staffer told the Sun.
In a confidential memo, leaked to the Sun, city clerk John Elvidge told councillors and Mayor Olivia Chow that while they don’t have to stay neutral on unionization, as employers, they “should tread very lightly.”
“The best advice is to remain neutral in tone and content and to avoid being brought into conversations in respect of the organizing drive,” the memo stated.
Elvidge emphasized a need to ensure “appropriate communications,” and added that “any contemplation of discipline, termination, changes to remuneration or other terms and conditions of employment should be avoided or assessed with extreme caution,” given the extra scrutiny.
The pro-union staffer said this process has been years in the making. While a lot of details have yet to be figured out, the staffer said the “big vote” is next Thursday, and should workers choose to unionize, they can then begin clarifying their demands of City Hall.
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While a slate of pay raises would ultimately be paid for by Torontonians, the staffer said, “In the long run, taxpayers benefit from council staffers that are effective and that are able to do the work in a good workplace.”
“We serve constituents, right?” the person said. “We answer to taxpayers, to residents on the issues that they are facing.”
While the move is unusual, it’s not without precedent as New York City’s council staff unionized in 2021. Those workers reportedly began organizing in 2016.
That union, the Association of Legislative Employees, boasted in July 2024 that it had won salary gains for some 400 members, totalling $2.9 million US. (The ALE did not respond to a request for comment from the Sun.)
That union has been politically active, voicing support for other labour movements and remote work as well as attending protest events and making social media posts about what it calls “Israel’s genocide” against Palestinians.
Asked if a Toronto council workers union might take public political stances, the worker told the Sun “that would be a conversation in the future,” but added, “AMAPCEO is a non-partisan union, which is perfect for us, where we work for councillors who have different political beliefs from each other.”
News of the push for unionization broke shortly after the City of Toronto tabled what it termed a final offer to CUPE Local 79, which represents some 27,000 municipal employees.
The councillor’s office employee who spoke to the Sun said while those events are unrelated, CUPE’s work “is a symbol for the staffers here.”
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