Local fire fighters have been given wage parity with local police again.
Members of the Thunder Bay Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 193 had been without a contract for the past two years.
A provincial arbitrator awarded them wage parity with police between Jan.1, 2011 to the end of 2014. The award means a 2.75 per cent and 3.1 per cent annual wage increase. That amounts to about a $6 million total payout city manager Tim Commisso said.
While the city accepts the decision, Commisso said the award adds to the increasing costs of tax-supported emergency services.
“We still have concerns about the fact that police and fire in particular are getting settlements that are double other employee groups and that’s been the trend over the last ten years and it’s something that we’re trying to deal with,” he said.
The city is part of an Association of Municipalities of Ontario strategy to get the province to improve the arbitration process. The strategy includes a 12 month timeline to complete arbitration, measurable criteria for measuring the fiscal health of a community and requiring that the arbitrator provide a written explanation on how the fiscal health of a community was considered.
“On the one hand the province is looking to get province wide agreements with teachers to hold them to no real increases. On the other hand they have an arbitration process that’s allowing three, three-and-a-half, four per cent increases going forward that are affecting municipalities,” Commisso said.
“We just can’t continue seeing those types of increases.”
