BETWEEN:
THUNDER BAY PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION
(the "Associatiorl')
-and-
THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF THUNDER BAY
(the "Corporatiorl)
Maureen Saltman Chair
Jeffrey Sack, Q.C. Association Nominee
· Andy Reistetter Corporation Nominee
For the Association - Ed Dickson
For the Corporation - R. Ross Dunsmore
\· \
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FINAL AWARD
The ·Board of Arbitration has been appointed pursuant to the interest arbitration
provisions of the Ontario FireProtection and PreventionAct, S.O. 1997, chapter4, for
the purpose of adjudicating issues remaining in dispute between the parties in respect
of a renewal collective agreement to succeed the collective agreement which expired on
December 31, 2003. A Partial Award was issued on December 6, 2007 setting salary'
rates for the years 2004, 2005 and 200(3, Since then, interim increa$eS have been
agreed upon between the parties, in a Memorandum of Settlement signed on November
26, 2010, for the years 2007 to 2010, without prejudice to this, our Final Award.
All matters agreed to between the parties prior to the d(:lte hereofshall form part of the
award and of the renewal collective agreement. Items which are awarded shall take
effect from the date of the award unless indicated otherwise. All demands not explicitly
dealt with in the award are denied. The term of the award and of the renewal collective
.. agreement shall encompass the period from January 1, 2004to December 31 1 2010:
Section 50.5 (2) of the Ontario Fire Protection and Prevention Act provides as follows:
In making a decision, the bqard of arbitration shall take into consideration all factors the board considers relevant, including the following criteria:
1. The employer's ability to pay in light of its fiscal situation.
2. The extent to which services will have to be reduced in light of the decision, if current funding and taxation levels are not increased.
3. The economic situation in Ontario and in the municipality:
4. A comparison, as between the firefighters and other comparable employees in the public and private sectors, of the terms and conditions of employment and the nature of the work performed.
5. The employer's ability to attract and retain qualified firefighters.
In reaching our conclusions, the Board has considered the evidence, including oral
testimony, and the submissions of the parties in light of the factors set out above, all of
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which, to the extent they have been referred to by the parties, have been taken into
account.
Salary. The salary of a first:-class firefighter for the years 2004-2006 shall be as set out
in our Partial Award. For the years 2007-2010 rates of pay shall be as follows:
Effective January 1, 2007: $72,703
Effective January 1, 2008: $75,066
Effective January 1, 2009: $77,660
Effective January 1, 2010: $80,184
All other ranks/classifications shall be adjusted accordingly.
Betjggnition Pay. Effective January 1, 2008, recognition pay of 2%, 3% and 6% shall be
awarded to all members of the bargaining unit after 8, 17 and 23 years of service on the
anniversary date of the individual firefighter. Effective January 1, 2009, recognition pay
of 3%, 6% and .. 9°/o shall be awarded after 8, 17 and 23 years of service on the
anniversary date of the individual firefighter. Recognition pay shall form part of base
salary and shall be paid as part of the regular pay cheque. It shall be included as salary
in calculating overtime, vacation and statutory holiday pay, and pension contributions.
Service pay as provided for under Article 30 of the collective agreement shall be deleted
as of January 1, 2008 and any such amounts paid since that date shall be deducted
from the retroactive pay that is due under this Award.
Classification Adjustments. Effective December 31, 2010 the salary differential for
maintenance technician, mechanic and fire prevention officer shall be increased to
107% of a first-class firefighter's rate. Effective December 31, 2010, Schedule A to the
collective agreement shall be amended to provide as follows: 4th class firefighter: 65%;
3rd class firefighter: 75%; 2nd class firefighter: 85%.
Grievance Procedure. Under Article 7, where no time limit is specified for an action
(e.g. a llearing, meeting or decision), the time limit shall be ten (10) working days.
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Association Leave. Under Article 18, the words "in the opinion of managementj" shall
be deleted from Article 18.02, and the words "at the discretion of the Corporation" shall
be deleted from Article 18.03. Article 18.06 shall be amended to add the words "Any
member of the Association's bargaining committee on duty during a negotiating session
will be allowed time off with pay."
Safety Equipment. In Article 17.02, the maximum amount of $85 for safety footwear
shall be increased to $100.
Benefits. The following amendments shall be made to Article 19:
(a) Article 19.03 relating to the Extended Health Care Plan shall be amended to
provide for generic drugs, where they are available, unless another drug is
prescribed by a physician. Over-the-counter drugs shaH not be covered
unless they are prescribed by a physician.
(b) Article 19.04 relating to dental care shall be amended to provide for a
maximum of $2,500 per year (major restorative coverage) and a maximum of
$3,500 lifetime (orthodontic coverage, for children only, under age21 or age
25 if enrolled in a post-secondary institution), with 100% of premium costs
paid by the employer and all benefits to carry a 50% co-pay. Dental recall for
adults shall be covered, for persons aged 18 or over, every 9 months; for
persons under age 18, every 6 months.
(c) Article 19.05 relating to paramedical services shall be amended to provide a
maximum of $500 per class per year per person (firefighter, spouse and
dependent children) in respect of base and supplemental services currently
covered including chiropractic x-rays.
(d) Article 19.06 relating to visioncare shall be amended to provide a maximum of
$400 per person (firefighter, spouse and dependent children) every 2 years,
to cover the cost of eye glasses, frames and/or lenses, repairs, contact
lenses, eye exams and laser surgery.
Letters of Understanding. All letters of understanding shall be renewed for the term of
the renewal collective agreement
RetroactiW,. Wage retroactivity based on all paid hours since January 1, 2004 is to be
paid to anyone employed since January 1, 2004. Interim wage increases are to be
deducted from retroactive payments. Payment is to be made as soon as practicabie.
Anyone who has left the employ of the employer is to be contacted in writing at his/her
address on file within 30 days of the date hereof and shall have another 30 days in
which to reply. Paymentis to be made within 30 days of the reply.
The Board remains seized until such time as a collective agreement is in effect.
DATED at Toronto, Ontario this 41h day of February 2011.
Maureen Saltman, Chair
"I dissent -Andy Reistetter" Andy Reistetter, Corporation Nominee
"I dissent in part- Jeffrey Sack, Q.C." Jeffrey Sack, Q.C. Association Nominee
DISSENT OF CORPORATION NOMINEE
ANDREW REISTETTER
BETWEEN:
THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF THUNDER BAY
AND:
THE THl.JI\IDER BAY PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS ASSOCIATION
There has been considerable deliberation in this Award because the three members of the Board all have differing views aboutthe Impact that the Police settlementshould flave upon the Fire Department. The long history shows a close relationship, notjuston the compensation side, but also on the savings side. Arbitrator Mitch nick, for example, chaired a board with the same nominees, in which he awarded offsetting savings for the Fire Department to reflecUr~des which the Police Board and Association had made as part of their package settlement. ·
On this occasion, the City again asserted that savings from the Police deal should be reflected in the Fire negotiations. The Association was unprepared to acknowledge savings had· been
achieved. To respond to that, the City called the lead bargainers from both the Police Board and the. Pqlice Assb~li3tion to testify to th~ nature. of the savi11gs which. had been a part qf the Pol(¢e deal that allowed the Board to implement compensation improvements. The evictence was · compelling to me that the wage increases achieved by the Police were buiit upon scheduling and overtime changes to which they agreed in order to generate compensation savings to the Board. Fire took the position that they did not have to provide similar savings; they were entitled
to f.l parity relationship on the positive side without accounting for negatives. Attempts to resolve this argumenttook much time and effort. In the end, we could not agree and so this decision prevails.
I dissent.from ~he decision. The Award does not reflect sufficiently the degree of savings that the. Police Board achieved ln its negotiations. It was these savings that helped fund the. increases< Fire shoLJid have provided more funding of savings than this Award supplies. Since the terrp of the agreement is over, the City cannot save any money going forward as the Polit:~e Bqard die! .. For that reason, l would have deferred the recognition pay until the last day of th~ Award. Such · a deferral would have accounted more fully for the police savings than the timing which the . Chair chose to award for wages, recognition pay and benefits. The Chair has made some effort
to account for the achievement of savings in the Pollee agreement, just not enough.
ANDREW REISTETTER
February 4, 2011
Partial Dissent of Association Nominee
This is a partial concurrence, and a partial dissent. The purpose of interest arbitration, it
hasoftenbeen said, is to replicate what the parties themselves would have bargained if
they had been able to do so. The best way of achieving this result is to emulate
settlements voluntarily entered into with comparable groups. Of particular significance
in this arbitration is comparability with local police and similarly situated fire departments
across Ontario. Accordingly, I concur in the Board's award on salary increases which
has taken into account the historical parity relationship between Thunder Bay police and
Thunder Bay firefighters.
The City has argued that the Board should take into account the fact that Thunder Bay
police have made monetary trade-offs in the last round of bargaining to achieve
substantial salary increases, and submits that the Thunder Bay firefighters should make
similar concessions. Even if such were the case (it is in fact contested), it would be
difficult to give effect to this argument in the absence of adequate information
cornparing the total compensation of police and firefighters, including both salary and
benefits. In this respect, a comparison of the total compensation of the two groups was
not presented to the Board by the City and what evidence was presented, by the
Association, supports the conclusion that the total compensation received by Thunder
Bay firefighters does not equal, let alone exceed, that received by Thunder Bay police.
Finally, I do not concur in the disposition of certain other matters, in particular the
effective dates of recognition pay. Recognition pay is part of compensation, and is
justified by the principle of police parity. This being the case, recognition pay should, in
my view, have been implemented on the same dates as for the Thunder Bay police, i.e.
July 1, 2005 (2%, 3%, 6%) and January 1, 2008 (3%, 6%, 9%).
F:\DOC\OO!l14196.DOC
Jeffrey Sack, Q.C. Association Nominee
