Hopes that the Toronto Zoo and its striking workers were about to settle dimmed Friday as a deep split on the zoo’s board of management burst into public view.

The major tourist attraction, with 5,000 animals and more than 1.3 million visitors last year, is certain to remain shuttered over the May long weekend that is traditionally a kickoff to the busy summer season.

Early Friday CUPE Local 1600, representing more than 400 staff who set up picket lines May 11, said there was progress the previous day in contract negotiations with zoo management and both sides were “95 per cent” of the way to a deal.

The union tabled an offer that would have altered a provision guaranteeing staff won’t lose their jobs to contracting out. Only staff with four or more years’ seniority would be protected, Local 1600 offered, while another contentious guarantee, that the zoo have at least 150 permanent full-time staff, would remain in the new contract.

The union says it currently has 183 full-time staff and more than 170 seasonal workers.

An afternoon closed-door zoo board meeting, where negotiators explained the offer and members debated it, stretched into the evening. They finally emerged to vote 6-3 in favour of directions to negotiators that will remain secret.

Comments in the public part of the meeting made it apparent the board had rejected the zoo staff’s offer, and the three dissenting board members were furious.

“I think instead of working with our employees, we’re waging war against them for absolutely no reason,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker in an interview, after making similar comments to his colleagues.

“We have amazing people who work for us. We should be supporting them, we shouldn’t be attacking them, we shouldn’t be weakening them, we shouldn’t be trying to eliminate their (job) security, we shouldn’t be trying to downsize.

“All the good things you should do as a good employer with good staff, we’re violating.”

Councillor Neethan Shan, whose Scarborough ward includes the zoo, said board colleagues should focus on the long-term master plan to boost zoo attendance and cut the city subsidy, which hit $12.6 million last year, rather than getting contract concessions out of “fabulous” staff.

Councillor Mary Fragedakis said she wished the board was “implementing the plan instead of fixing something that isn’t broken.”

Voting in favour of the secret instructions were board chair Councillor Paul Ainslie and five citizen board appointees.

One of them, Paul Doyle, objected to De Baeremaeker’s characterization. Toronto has a great zoo with great, well-educated employees who are good to work with and good with the public, he said.

“I don’t see this activity that we talked about in camera as being a reflection on those people.”

Ainslie also rejected the criticism, noting those who voted with him have diverse backgrounds.

“I think we’re very close,” to a new contract that would re-open the zoo, he said.

“What we discussed in camera is the proper course of action and I hope the strike will be over soon,” Ainslie said, adding that non-union staff are taking good care of the animals while their regular handlers are on strike.

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After the board meeting Christine McKenzie, president of Local 1600, said it obviously “did not go well for us.”

McKenzie said she told her management counterpart she was ready to head back to the bargaining table but, at press time, it was not clear when that would happen.

The zoo has struggled with sagging attendance in recent years, even with four-legged stars including baby pandas.