The City of Toronto and the union representing its 5,000 outside workers have agreed to extend the deadline for a possible strike or lockout by 48 hours.

The workers, who collect garbage and recycling east of Yonge Street and maintain city buildings, ice rinks and swimming pools, were in a position to strike or be locked out as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Union Local 416 president Eddie Mariconda said the two sides will continue bargaining. He did not rule out extending the deadline again.

“We’re here to get a deal,” he said.

Most of the city’s 22,000 inside workers, represented by CUPE Local 79, will also be in a position to strike or be locked out at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, it was announced Wednesday. They have been bargaining since Dec. 5.

Inside workers include city planners, who evaluate development applications, Toronto Public Health inspectors, child-care workers who staff the city-run child-care centres, 311 operators and the city clerks who run council and committee meetings, among others. The inside workers not affected include about 2,500 working in long-term care, deemed an essential service.

A stumbling block between the city and its unions is job security. The unions want all members to be given job security at 15 years; the city wants to keep it capped at those who served 15 years as of Dec. 31, 2019, which would have the effect of phasing it out over time.

Mariconda said Wednesday the city wants to phase out job security so that it can privatize and contract out work. He pointed to statements made by city spokesperson Brad Ross on CBC radio Wednesday morning.

Ross told the CBC’s Piya Chattopadhyay that the city wants to eliminate the job security provision, “so that the city moving forward has flexibility, the ability to privatize a piece of business in years to come that we haven’t considered today. We don’t want to be locked in and be inflexible in being able to adapt to a changing business environment.”

“Their agenda has been exposed, now” said Mariconda. “It’s always been about wanting to privatize.”

Tory welcomed the bargaining extension as a “very good development”, telling reporters Wednesday afternoon he remained hopeful the two sides will strike a “timely and fair agreement.”

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The mayor said he has no plans for privatization but must ensure the city has the flexibility to benefit from technological change.

Tory said the job security provision, which he called “jobs for life”, could hamstring city operations and should not be included in any new deal.

The city and Local 416 have retained William Kaplan to act as a mediator between the two parties and he began meeting with them Wednesday afternoon.

David Rider is the Star’s City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering city hall and municipal politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider