The two unions responsible for services such as garbage collection, court duties and park maintenance have asked the city to inform the labour minister about a failure in contract negotiations that could lead to a strike.
The Ministry of Labour will now issue a "no-board" report, which would give the city's 29,000 inside and outside workers the right to strike within 17 days of that report's release.
But that doesn't necessarily there will be a strike at that point. Spokespeople for both the unions and the city say they want to avoid a strike.
On Thursday afternoon, the city expressed hope a deal can still be negotiated without a work-stoppage.
Union leaders say the city wants to remove benefits from seniority, sick leave and other areas. The unions are also asking for a pay increase of about three per cent.
