For the first time since 2005, the City of Moose Jaw and Moose Jaw Firefighters Association have signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) without requiring an arbitrator.
Negotiations between the parties for a new agreement began pre-pandemic but were paused for a couple of years until face-to-face discussions could resume.
Those talks re-started this year, and from them, both parties agreed to a new CBA for 2019 to 2021. Firefighters received annual wage increases of 2.5 per cent for those years — 7.5 per cent in total — and a 0.5-per-cent increase in pension contributions.
Firefighters have a matching defined contribution pension plan, where they contribute nine per cent of their income and the city matches that with nine per cent as well.
The municipality held an event at city hall on Oct. 12 to celebrate the new agreement. The mayor, city clerk, association president and association secretary/treasurer signed the documents to seal the deal officially.
Mayor Clive Tolley thanked all the people who helped craft the new agreement, including the city manager, the new HR director, the city clerk, the fire chief, the deputy fire chief, and the association president. He thought a signed agreement was better than one imposed by a third party.
“This is a much-favoured result as opposed to arbitration. It makes me feel like there’s hope for the future for more agreements to be signed and negotiated,” he said.
Citizens should be happy that an agreement is in place, especially since firefighting is an essential service — there are 45 firefighters split into four platoons — along with policing and public works services, Tolley continued. He believed this outcome was great for the community and a “momentous occasion” for everyone.
Even though the new agreement gives firefighters coverage until only the end of 2021, the mayor thought the signing was important to celebrate since it showed that negotiations were possible between the parties — even if discussions for the next agreement must start soon.
“So let’s hope that this is the foretelling of what’s going to happen in the future, that we’ll be able to negotiate additional agreements for the future and that we’ll do it in the same way … ,” Tolley added. “The professional fire service we have is second-to-none.”
Association president Matt Crocker thought negotiations went well because both sides could discuss the situation freely, something that hadn’t happened in 17 years. Securing a new CBA is a positive step for both sides and puts them on the right path for similar negotiations in the future.
HR director T.J. Karwandy reached out this summer and asked the association to return to the negotiation table, Crocker continued. He agreed, and after several meetings where they “crunched some stuff,” the parties arrived at a freely negotiated contract.
“We think it’s a fair (wage) for each year and the pension increase. It moves us in the right step … ,” he added. “We’re pleased with the deal. It’s freely negotiated — and it’s very rare.”
The association president added that negotiations on the next contract will start “in the near future,” although no start date has been set yet.
