Angered by what they described as the City of Toronto's reluctance to bargain seriously, the leaders of Toronto's municipal workers pulled their 30,000 members off the job at midnight.

Mark Ferguson, president of the outside workers' local of Canadian Union of Public Employees and Ann Dembinski, who heads the inside workers' local, had harsh words for the way the city has conducted its negotiations.

"We believe it's been their intent to put us out on the streets all the way along," Ferguson told a news conference. "The contempt that the city holds for city workers, through the proposals that are on the table, is much worse than we saw in 2002," he said, referring to the last time city workers walked off the job.

Ferguson had pleaded with the city to pick up the pace of bargaining at 10:30 a.m. yesterday.

But union officials said the city didn't present a wage and monetary package - one that they deemed grossly insufficient - until 9 p.m. last night.

"At 9:30 this evening, the city of Toronto tabled a proposal that we considered to be complete garbage," Ferguson said. "It was a vicious attack on our membership, an unwarranted attack."

Speaking at a 1 a.m. news conference Mayor David Miller said negotiations would continue through the morning.

He rebuffed CUPE's demands for a collective agreement on par with other unionized city workers.

"The world has changed. The city has extremely serious budget challenges. One needs only to look at our welfare rolls to understand that. All I really can say is that I think this strike is very regrettable."

Miller said he was "particularly" concerned about families with children in city-run daycares, closed during the strike, and urged Torontonians to visit Toronto.ca for details of the city's contingency plan.

Despite the strike, Miller said he would not take a direct role in the negotiations.

"My role is not to be at the bargaining table (and) never has been," he said.

"We have a team of negotiators. They have clear instructions from council through the employee and labour relations committee, and those instructions are framed around the principles that the agreement must be fair to employees, must be affordable to the city, and allow our public service to operate efficiently and effectively."

City spokesperson Kevin Sack insisted a strike is unnecessary.

"While the city does not want a strike, the city cannot simply agree to all the union requests to avoid one," Sack said.

On strike are about 24,000 inside workers — half full time, half part time — who are members of Local 79 of CUPE, and about 6,200 outside workers, members of CUPE's Local 416.

Dembinski, president of Local 79, said the city's "stubborn unwillingness" to pull what the union views as major concessions off the table, and to agree to wage increases in line with other municipal workers, was forcing the union to strike. She zeroed in on the city's proposal to change the workers' sick pay system, which would eliminate the current practice that allows employees to bank unused sick time.

She blamed Mayor David Miller directly for the impasse.

"The mayor has been using the recession as an excuse to rip our collective agreement to pieces," Dembinski told reporters.

City negotiators are following the mayor's lead, she said.

"At the negotiating table, the city is putting the knife to us," she said. "Local 79 members have two choices: Roll over and play dead, or fight to defend themselves. We have been put in this position by the City of Toronto.

"If this turns into a strike, it's not because of union demands. Let me be clear: It is because of the City of Toronto's demands to rip things away from us," Dembinski insisted.

Earlier in the day, Ferguson, president of Local 416, sounded a similarly gloomy note.

"At this point, things don't look very good," he told a morning news conference.

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He criticized city negotiators for dragging their feet during talks, saying that six months should be enough time to reach a deal.

Ferguson said the union had been willing to talk through the night both Friday and Saturday, but city negotiators declined. "That, in my mind, sends a strong message that they're not prepared to do a deal."

Ferguson said the union wouldn't extend talks past midnight Sunday night, however: "The deadline is firm. In our minds, there is no reason to extend the deadline at this point. We are prepared to negotiate a deal, but, if the deal isn't there at midnight, our members are going on strike."

Sack said that creates difficulties.

"The bargaining process must be allowed to work, even if that takes some extra time," Sack said.

He told an early afternoon news conference that the city still believes a strike is unnecessary.

"While the city does not want a strike, the city cannot simply agree to all the union requests to avoid one," Sack said.

While the union complained that city negotiators had been unwilling to work through the night, Sack said negotiations take time and must be carefully considered.

"We believe that a few extra days, if it's required to reach an agreement, makes sense."

The issue of sick days remains a key sticking point. The city wants to replace the current system, which allows union employees to bank unused sick time and cash it out when they quit or retire. An employee with 25 years service can get up to six months' pay on departure, a future cost the city says is worth $249 million.

But Local 416's Ferguson said sick pay is by no means the only issue.

"We have concessions on the table (from the city) that would see senior employees laid off while junior employees continue to work," Ferguson said. "(There are) proposals ... that would see people who have worked in jobs for many years not being able to qualify for those jobs in future.

"Certainly sick time is an issue, but there are many issues. They are all outstanding issues at this point."

Miller was being kept in touch with talks "constantly," Sack said, but wasn't taking an active role at either bargaining table.

The outside workers were holding talks at the Delta Hotel in Scarborough at Highway 401 and Kennedy Rd., while the inside workers were negotiating at the Sheraton Hotel across from City Hall.