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Hush-hush firefighter deal lifts Toronto's unions
Police want increases comparable to those approved in June
JEFF GRAY
With a report from Jennifer Lewington
The Globe and Mail
October 26, 2007
TORONTO -- Despite its financial crisis, Toronto is giving its firefighters more than 9 per cent in pay increases over the next three years - a wage hike the city's other unions say they are eyeing as their talks draw closer.
Actually negotiated earlier this year, the deal sailed quickly and quietly through council, with no objections, late in the evening on June 20, on a day when media coverage was focused on a controversy over whether city emergency vehicles should sport "Support the troops" decals.
The deal was also not highlighted by either the mayor or his critics in the three months of divisive debate over city finances that culminated in a vote this week in favour of two controversial new taxes.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr. Miller denied the deal was intentionally kept quiet, saying the news media instead chose to ignore it, and that his opponents supported it because it was fair.
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Section A Front Enlarge Image
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The Globe and Mail
The contract hands the firefighters a 3-per-cent raise this year, a 3.25-per-cent increase next year and a 3.5-per-cent hike in 2009, staggered in three chunks over that year.
The 2007 pay for a first-class firefighter is at $73,658, which is similar to many other Toronto-area wage rates for firefighters. (Oakville's are currently the highest paid, the union says, at $73,791.)
"We're very proud of our firefighters. They're entitled to an increase," Mr. Miller told reporters yesterday.
He said if the city had instead held out and forced the matter into arbitration - firefighters cannot strike - it would have likely ended up with similar increases, because an arbitrator's ruling means firefighters are entitled to parity with police.
"They deserve it. You can't put a price on people that are in a profession of saving people's lives," said Councillor Rob Ford, noting no councillor objected when the contract came up for approval in June. "It's money well spent."
But he warned other city unions not to use the firefighters deal as a model.
"You cannot compare people who save lives to people who pick up garbage or cut grass," he said. "If they [other unions] try to use that comparison we will blow them out of the water."
While the cost of the increases to the city's 3,200 firefighters is relatively small in light of the city's $8-billion budget - $29-million over three years - critics say it sets an expensive precedent for its other unions to follow as the city continues to face a cash crunch.
Police officers entered into contract talks, as has Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the city's parks and garbage workers who went on strike in 2002. Its four-year deal expires next year.
Local 416 president Brian Cochrane said yesterday that naturally the firefighters' deal could be a factor at his bargaining table. He said while his union knows the city is in financial trouble, his members still deserve increases.
"When GM and the UAW went to the bargaining table, with GM and Chrysler struggling as they were, that didn't mean general wage increases didn't come down the pipe in collective bargaining," Mr. Cochrane said.
But Mr. Miller's budget chief, Councillor Shelley Carroll, said she thought it was time the city's unions stopped insisting on using each other's deals as precedents, given the city's money problems.
"Having asked what we've just asked of all our citizens and the city's financial situation is well known - we have to ask ourselves, can we start a new round now?" said Ms. Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East).
One vocal right-leaning critic of the mayor, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, said he tried to hold up the firefighters' deal in June at council, but said he had to leave the evening session to attend the Pride Gala.
He said he had concerns over the wage increases and benefits being offered, and blamed the concessions on the mayor's relationship with the firefighters union, about a dozen of whom showed up in red T-shirts to support Mr. Miller in the gallery during the tax debate at council on Monday.
"David Miller's relationship to organized labour is cozy. But his relations to the firefighters union is extra cozy," Mr. Minnan-Wong said.
He insisted he did raise the issue of the city's union wages generally during the debate on the mayor's taxes.
A year of contracts
In 2008, a wide number of labour contracts are up for renewal in the City of Toronto. Here are some examples:
Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 79 (mostly inside workers): four separate agreements expire Dec. 31, 2008.
CUPE, Local 416 (outside workers): one agreement expires Dec. 31, 2008
CUPE, Local 2998 (community centre and parks workers): Dec. 31, 2008.
Toronto Police Service. Dec. 31, 2007 Toronto Transit Commission. Contract with Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113: expires Mar. 31, 2008.
Police want increases comparable to those approved in June
JEFF GRAY
With a report from Jennifer Lewington
The Globe and Mail
October 26, 2007
TORONTO -- Despite its financial crisis, Toronto is giving its firefighters more than 9 per cent in pay increases over the next three years - a wage hike the city's other unions say they are eyeing as their talks draw closer.
Actually negotiated earlier this year, the deal sailed quickly and quietly through council, with no objections, late in the evening on June 20, on a day when media coverage was focused on a controversy over whether city emergency vehicles should sport "Support the troops" decals.
The deal was also not highlighted by either the mayor or his critics in the three months of divisive debate over city finances that culminated in a vote this week in favour of two controversial new taxes.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr. Miller denied the deal was intentionally kept quiet, saying the news media instead chose to ignore it, and that his opponents supported it because it was fair.
Print Edition - Section Front
Section A Front Enlarge Image
More Front Page Stories
* Ottawa eyes funding Cape Breton space venture
* Alberta royalty grab stuns oil industry
* Washington ups the ante with sanctions on Tehran
* Hush-hush firefighter deal lifts Toronto's unions
* He spent 10 hours frustrated by airport bureaucracy. Just 24 seconds later, police shot him with tasers
The Globe and Mail
The contract hands the firefighters a 3-per-cent raise this year, a 3.25-per-cent increase next year and a 3.5-per-cent hike in 2009, staggered in three chunks over that year.
The 2007 pay for a first-class firefighter is at $73,658, which is similar to many other Toronto-area wage rates for firefighters. (Oakville's are currently the highest paid, the union says, at $73,791.)
"We're very proud of our firefighters. They're entitled to an increase," Mr. Miller told reporters yesterday.
He said if the city had instead held out and forced the matter into arbitration - firefighters cannot strike - it would have likely ended up with similar increases, because an arbitrator's ruling means firefighters are entitled to parity with police.
"They deserve it. You can't put a price on people that are in a profession of saving people's lives," said Councillor Rob Ford, noting no councillor objected when the contract came up for approval in June. "It's money well spent."
But he warned other city unions not to use the firefighters deal as a model.
"You cannot compare people who save lives to people who pick up garbage or cut grass," he said. "If they [other unions] try to use that comparison we will blow them out of the water."
While the cost of the increases to the city's 3,200 firefighters is relatively small in light of the city's $8-billion budget - $29-million over three years - critics say it sets an expensive precedent for its other unions to follow as the city continues to face a cash crunch.
Police officers entered into contract talks, as has Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the city's parks and garbage workers who went on strike in 2002. Its four-year deal expires next year.
Local 416 president Brian Cochrane said yesterday that naturally the firefighters' deal could be a factor at his bargaining table. He said while his union knows the city is in financial trouble, his members still deserve increases.
"When GM and the UAW went to the bargaining table, with GM and Chrysler struggling as they were, that didn't mean general wage increases didn't come down the pipe in collective bargaining," Mr. Cochrane said.
But Mr. Miller's budget chief, Councillor Shelley Carroll, said she thought it was time the city's unions stopped insisting on using each other's deals as precedents, given the city's money problems.
"Having asked what we've just asked of all our citizens and the city's financial situation is well known - we have to ask ourselves, can we start a new round now?" said Ms. Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East).
One vocal right-leaning critic of the mayor, Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, said he tried to hold up the firefighters' deal in June at council, but said he had to leave the evening session to attend the Pride Gala.
He said he had concerns over the wage increases and benefits being offered, and blamed the concessions on the mayor's relationship with the firefighters union, about a dozen of whom showed up in red T-shirts to support Mr. Miller in the gallery during the tax debate at council on Monday.
"David Miller's relationship to organized labour is cozy. But his relations to the firefighters union is extra cozy," Mr. Minnan-Wong said.
He insisted he did raise the issue of the city's union wages generally during the debate on the mayor's taxes.
A year of contracts
In 2008, a wide number of labour contracts are up for renewal in the City of Toronto. Here are some examples:
Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 79 (mostly inside workers): four separate agreements expire Dec. 31, 2008.
CUPE, Local 416 (outside workers): one agreement expires Dec. 31, 2008
CUPE, Local 2998 (community centre and parks workers): Dec. 31, 2008.
Toronto Police Service. Dec. 31, 2007 Toronto Transit Commission. Contract with Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113: expires Mar. 31, 2008.