By Thia James

POLL: Facing rising fire dept. labour costs, P.A. calls in big-city lawyer

Jun 2, 2015 | 6:41 AM

The City of Prince Albert has hired Toronto-based law firm Hicks Morley to handle its current round of labour negotiations with the union representing the Prince Albert Fire Department’s staff.

Negotiations with the Prince Albert Firefighters’ Association are ongoing, Mayor Greg Dionne confirmed on Monday. The City is now turning to Hicks Morley, a firm that represents municipal fire departments in labour negotiations across the country, for representation.

John Saunders, with Hicks Morley, is calling for more co-ordination between municipalities.

“The fire association does that, our side does not do this,” he said. Saunders suggested data sharing, co-operation and financially assisting other municipalities engaged in labour disputes.

Prince Albert is now looking to work with other municipalities, which could include Swift Current, Moose Jaw and Regina, in their negotiations with firefighters’ unions.

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“We’ve learned how powerful their union is, the fire[fighters’] union, and so we have now played our trump card and we went out with other cities,” Dionne said.

Representatives from the municipalities met with Saunders, who is in Saskatchewan to pitch the advantage of having a single representative, Dionne said.  The goal is to represent all of the cities in the province, but for now, Saunders will represent the City of Prince Albert.

The hiring of Saunders and his firm represents a change in approach to its negotiations with the firefighters’ union. Concerns about the rising cost of labour led to this decision.

“Strictly, we cannot afford the increases that we’ve been paying,” Dionne said.  Speaking broadly, he said that of the unions the City negotiates with, there’s one that he said wants to be “over and above everybody else” in terms of the increases it agrees to.

In its negotiations in 2009, the union asked for a one-year, eight per cent increase and to have wages tied to those paid to police officers. The City offered a 10.5 per cent increase over three years. The union took the case to arbitration.

In 2012, the arbitrator ruled that the City would pay a retroactive increase of 15.5 per cent, dating back to Jan. 1, 2010. On top of that, the firefighters’ would be eligible for future increases based on those Prince Albert Police Service constables receive in their contract talks. 

Dionne isn’t standing behind treating firefighters and police officers the same in terms of pay, and argues there is no comparison between the professions. He cited examples provided by Saunders earlier in the day, including one that decisions are made by the captain, and not the lower-ranked firefighters.

“They’re not equal in any way,” he said of the two professions.

Saunders warns against a sort of chain effect that would come from the firefighters’ union comparing its salaries to those paid to police officers. He gave the example of the union in Moose Jaw comparing its salaries to the local police, which was comparing its salaries to the Regina Police Service, which he said in turn was comparing its salaries to the Calgary and Edmonton police services.

He said the Prince Albert firefighters’ union would likely use Moose Jaw as an appropriate comparable, and this would lead to a similar chain of events.

“And what you need to is try and stop some of that and say what you need is a ‘made in P.A. solution’ which addresses the economic conditions which you have in this community, and that’s what you need to try and do in terms of your negotiations.”

According to the municipal public accounts for 2013 – the most recent information currently available – 48 members of the Prince Albert Fire Department earn more than $50,000, accounting for $4,476,137.61 in salaries. Nearly 20 of those members of staff on the list earned more than $100,000.  

The executive committee voted to receive and file the information presented by Saunders.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames