An arbitration board has granted the City of Owen Sound's staffing proposal to lower the minimum level of on-duty firefighters from five to four in its collective agreement with the Owen Sound Professional Firefighters Association.
The three-person panel rendered its decision on several terms in dispute including changes to fire department staffing requirements in the collective agreement between Owen Sound and its unionized firefighters in a 54-page report released on Monday.
The arbitration board was comprised of a chair, a city nominee and a union nominee. The chair writes the actual decision.
The report by arbitration board chair Lorne Slotnick explains the city established a compelling case the staffing change is warranted through comparability and demonstrated need. It says the proposal puts Owen Sound in line with comparable fire departments.
“This is a really good result for the City of Owen Sound. It's something we've been fighting for years,” Mayor Ian Boddy says in an interview. “It will cut down in the overtime costs we have to pay out.”
From 2014-18, the city spent roughly $180,000 annually on overtime costs to maintain a minimum of five on-duty firefighters.
According to the arbitrators' report, a chart produced by the city — that was not disputed by the union — lists 24 other comparable fire departments in Ontario. The report explains 14 of those municipalities are more populated than Owen Sound, most feature higher call volumes and no other fire department with one station has a minimum staffing level of five.
“Our goal has always been to be treated as fairly as other municipalities of similar size,” Mayor Boddy says. “Many of which are composite fire departments.”
While the city's proposal to lower the minimum staffing level to four firefighters was granted, the union had its ask to raise the total staff complement from 26 to 28 full-time firefighers rejected.
The arbitrators decided the union's proposal fell short on the tests of comparability and demonstrated need.
“There was no evidence presented on whether this proposal is either widely accepted, or necessary to solve a problem,” the written decision explains. “As such, we are not able to assess this proposal properly, and decline to award it.”
Some decisions made by the arbitration board are favourable to the union. Wage increases were awarded that move Owen Sound slightly higher than comparables in Collingwood and Orillia, and a new health spending account was created to provide union members up to $1,500 annually in medical and dental benefits from age 65 to 70.
In a statement, Owen Sound Professional Firefighters Association Local 531 president Jody Long says they are pleased with the majority of the award, but very disappointed in the arbitrators' decision regarding minimum staffing.
“The Firefighters Association can appreciate the concerns of city council when overtime costs related to maintaining five on duty were high, but we had a number of members on long term absences,” Long says. “Our job is physically and mentally demanding. So injuries, which can turn into long term absences, occur and that is just part of the business.”
Long says these absences were bound to end and have, and there was a sharp decline in overtime in 2018.
“In our opinion, this move was unnecessary and short sighted as the overtime issue has in our view has corrected itself and stabilized but we are now left with an increased risk to the public and firefighters,” Long explains.” The arbitrator may view this increased risk as minimal but any increased risk that is avoidable should be just that – avoided.”
Long says the union has approached the city's Fire Chief Doug Barfoot about setting out new response procedures given the new reality of responding at times with only four firefighters.
“These new procedures are something the city's own expert witness said would have to be address. The Chief has indicated they are now working on a plan,” Long says. “Working with one less fire fighter on the initial response means the initial critical tasks take longer to complete, so a different approach may be required given the emergency. So we call on all citizens to be extra diligent and check their smoke and CO alarms and practice their home escape plans.”
The previous collective agreement between the City of Owen Sound and the Owen Sound Professional Fire Fighters Association expired on Dec. 31, 2014.
The duration of the agreement in the arbitration award will cover four years, from Jan. 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2018.
Owen Sound, a city of around 21,000, has a full-time fire department. Many of its comparators with similar populations offer composite departments, with a mix of full-time and volunteer (part-time) firefighters.
Statistics updated in January 2019 on the Ministry of the Solicitor General's website show Owen Sound is one of only 32 full-time fire departments in Ontario out of the province's 441 in total.
The city's fire department budget in 2020 is $5.36-million — about 18 per cent of the total operating budget.
According to the 2018 BMA municipal study, Owen Sound pays the second-most per capita ($214) for fire services among all municipalities in Ontario with less than 30,000 people; Only Brockville pays more per person ($294) for its fire department.
*Editor's note: This story has been updated from the original version to add comments from Owen Sound Professional Firefighters Association local president Jody Long.