The city and the 300-member-plus fire department could soon be signing a new contract agreement if a proposal of terms is accepted by the Board of Control Wednesday.
Personnel director Gerald Hyde said Friday he planned to submit a settlement proposal to the board based on negotiations with the firefighters, but declined to disclose the contents.
However, firefighters’ association president and contract negotiator Gord Sturdy said that as far as he is concerned both sides are still in the negotiating process. He was aware of Hyde’s proposal, but also declined to give details.
If approved by the board and adopted by Council, the proposal could serve as the basis for a memorandum of agreement leading to a contract for 1982.
The move comes little more than two months after an arbitration panel boosted firefighters’ pay by 17 per cent for 1981.
In late November, an arbitration award pushed the pay for a first-class firefighter to $26, 852–just shy of the sought after $27,000 parity with first-class police constables in London.
The arbitration board chairman, Thomas McIver, a Toronto lawyer, calculated the new wage boost at 15 1/2 per cent over the $22,900 rate in the previous contract which expired on December 31, 1980. However, city administrator Maurice Engels said later the actual increase was 17.26 per cent.
The increase added more than $1 million to the cost of city fire service, which in 1981 topped $8 million.
If a 1982 contract is approved soon, it will be perhaps the speediest agreement between the city and firefighters in seven years. On three occasions arbitration was necessary and on two other occasions agreements were reached just before hearings began. Only once was the arbitration process avoided outright.
When the firefighters went to arbitration for their 1981 contract, they sought a 19 per cent increase to $27,251, while the city was offering 10.48 per cent.
