CNE opening during safety inspector strike

The Canadian National Exhibition has become the centre of a labour dispute as inspectors with the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) continue to strike.

TSSA inspectors usually make sure CNE rides, attractions and food vendors adhere to safety guidelines before and during the exhibition. As inspectors and the TSSA try to reach their first collective agreement, 170 union members will not be working at the exhibition. But CNE chief executive officer Darrell Brown said the exhibition had taken measures to ensure the exhibition would still be safe.

The union representing TSSA inspectors, OPSEU/SEFPO Local 546, has been bargaining the contract since November 2021. After the union and the safety authority could not reach an agreement, 170 safety inspectors walked off the job on July 21.

Cory Knipe, a fuel inspector for the TSSA and chair of the inspector's negotiating committee, said inspectors were unhappy with the contract the TSSA offered.

We carved as much as we possibly could out of anything to try our best to get a deal," Knipe said.

We were given basically a take-it-or-leave-it and they left the table and never came back. We have left the door wide open for them to return."

TSSA spokesperson Alexandra Campbell said the authority had given the union its final offer.

We have a really good final offer that we provided in order to prevent this strike," Campbell said OPSEU never responded to that and they went out on strike."

The strike means members of the union will not be doing safety inspections on the exhibition before the CNE opens on Friday. Brown said the exhibition hired third-party safety engineers, and TSSA workers outside the union will still be completing inspections.

He said CNE engineers were experienced with safety regulations, and he was confident" the CNE presented no safety issues.

As far as I'm concerned, we have a higher standard than the TSSA," Brown said.

Yes, the TSSA has to issue their certifications, but we go above and beyond that anyway."

All of the safety inspections for the CNE are going to be done by qualified people," Campbell said.

(People) should have fun and they should feel safe on the rides, and they should have confidence that all of the safety checks that are in place have been done."

Kristyn Wong-Tam, Ontario New Democratic Party MPP for Toronto Centre, said on Twitter public safety would be compromised if the exhibition opened during the strike.

I'm just nervous that there isn't anybody really watching and taking care of those facilities and that equipment," Wong-Tam said in an interview with the Star.

Knipe said members of the TSSA inspectors union will start picketing outside the CNE on Sunday, but he hoped the safety authority would continue to negotiate.

We're trying to get back to the table and get this over and then get on with it so that we can continue to do our jobs which is keeping everybody safe."

Campbell said the safety authority had made their final offer, and could not match the increase in inspector's wages that the union requested.

That kind of expectation around salary increases, that money just doesn't exist," Campbell said.

Isaac Phan Nay is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Reach him via email: iphannay@thestar.ca