Firefighters reach settlement

Without a contract since 2010, Prince George firefighters will see some retroactive pay come their way under an arbitrated settlement reached last week.

The contract provides for increases working out to 15.9 per cent over four years and nine months, starting in April 2010 and ending on Jan. 1, 2015. There is also a half-per-cent signing bonus awarded on Jan. 15.

The settlement was imposed by arbitrator Vince Ready.

"Neither party achieved what they sought but the award really replicates the recent arbitrated award out of Vancouver and follows a pattern of recently-negotiated firefighter agreements throughout the province," said Fred Wilkinson, a past president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1372.

"Prince George firefighters are satisfied with Vince Ready's decision and we think it's a fair deal for both parties."

Asked why it took so long to reach a settlement, Wilkinson said "sometimes people are entrenched in their positions and it just takes awhile to get through the process.

"We're an essential service so we don't have the right to strike and we have a process we have to follow if bargaining is taking a long time and that's the binding arbitration process as laid out in legislation in British Columbia."

Wilkinson said much of firefighters' pay is based on their skills and experience. Although their major task is to fight fires, Wilkinson said that's not their only job.

"We provide a lot of specialty rescue to the city - swift water rescue, hazmat [hazardous materials], confined space, high angle rescue - all that kind of stuff and a lot of members are on two to three teams and it's a big time commitment to do all the training and keep current.

"We provide that coverage to industry in the city. We have a lot of industry here versus a lot of other communities that are mostly residential. We have a real mix in Prince George with an oil refinery and things like that, so it's more of a service that the fire department has to offer in Prince George than some of the others out there."

City finance manager Chris Dalio said the increases were accurately accounted for in each of the city's annual budgets as a contingency in anticipation of the hikes.

"If we have an unratified contract, we estimate what we think the percentage is going to be and we set it aside every year," Dalio said. "That way we don't hit the taxpayer all in one year for a five-year- contract."

With the increases, he said the payroll for unionized fire fighters is $16 million in 2015.

There are 118 IAFA Local 1372 members at Prince George Fire Rescue, 11 of them dispatchers and the rest firefighters.