New Collective Agreement Ratified for Firefighters

As the city goes into arbitration with the Amalgamated Transit Union, they've appeared to lock up things with another group of essential public employees, the firefighters. After ratification by the Guelph Professional Firefighters Association, city council voted unanimously Monday to approve the new two-year agreement on their end. Of course because this thing is back-dated, it means this newly approved contract will expire at the end of the year, but the wage increases for the fire fighters have already been taken into account in the 2013 and 2014 budgets according to the city staff. 

Here's the city's press release: 

GUELPH, ON, April 28 –This evening, Guelph City Council voted unanimously to ratify a new collective agreement for the Guelph Professional Firefighters Association’s (GPFFA) City employees.

Members of the GPFFA ratified the agreement after a vote last week.

“We appreciate the dedication and hard work of Guelph’s firefighters and are very pleased to ratify an agreement that is reasonable to these employees and Guelph taxpayers,” said Mayor Farbridge.

Over the two-year agreement, January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2014, GPFFA members will receive the following wage increases:

• January 1, 2013 – 1 per cent
• July 1, 2013 – 1 per cent
• Dec 1, 2013 – 0.75 per cent
• January 1, 2014 – 1.5 per cent
• July 1, 2014 – 1 per cent
• December 1, 2014 – 0.2 per cent

The agreement also includes scheduling efficiencies that will result in savings for the City of about $142,000 per year.

The overall financial impact is 2.75 per cent and has been accounted for in the Council-approved 2013 and 2014 Fire and Emergency Services budget.

Once the agreements are formally signed by all parties, the documents will be available on the City’s website at guelph.ca/labourrelations.

The previous contract expired December 31, 2012.

The GPFFA represents the City’s approximately 165 fire department employees.