Ontario Superior Court issues injunction against picketing union workers and orders union to pay legal costs

On July 9, 2009, Ontario Superior Court Justice Mary Anne Sanderson granted an injunction to Wasteco, a waste disposal and garbage collection firm, preventing strikers with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) from obstructing access to its Toronto and Brampton locations. The injunction also extended to Wasteco vehicles in the City of Toronto and Peel Region, subject to certain exceptions. CUPE Local 416 represents 6,200 Toronto outside workers and has been on strike since June 22. Justice Sanderson said that union members will be allowed to engage in informational picketing outside Wasteco but that they will not be permitted to delay trucks entering or leaving the premises for more than five minutes. In an unusual move, the judge also ordered CUPE to pay legal costs, the figure to be decided later. Fasken Martineau was counsel to Wasteco in this dispute with a team led by Neal Smitheman, and including Tracy Pratt, Alix Herber and Sara Parchello, assisted by summer students Will Shaw and Christopher Rae.