The City of Nelson is asking other communities for assistance as it puts pressure on the province to take another look at its handling of contract negotiations for fire and police services.
City council’s resolution for the 2011 meeting of the Association of Kootenay and Boundary Local Governments calls for a review of the Fire and Police Services Collective Bargaining Act, which requires contract negotiations for those services to go to binding arbitration when they can’t be settled through negotiations.
Council’s resolution says arbitration is leading to those services being awarded new contracts “that aren’t in line with the economic reality of British Columbian communities,” and the process needs to be examined.
Nelson’s fire department was recently awarded a new contract through arbitration with a 24.5 per cent wage increase, retroactive to the beginning of 2008. The four-year deal expires in 2011, however, when negotiations reopen.
But mayor John Dooley says the resolution was prompted by the “frustrating experience” of arbitration rather than the $210,000 the contract will cost the city this year.
“We think there’s an easier way to solve those problems than having to get to arbitration,” he says. “Arbitration is set on previous agreements, and there’s not as much focus on the one that’s actually in front of them. So we’d like to see it looked at so it’s fair for everybody.”
The association’s annual meeting takes place in Kimberley from April 20 to 30.
