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LONDON FIREFIGHTERS: A claim that up to 85 of them will make $100,000 this year is being disputed by the president of their association
Pay battle heating up
Jonathan Sher
Sun Media
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November 20, 2008
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City hall sources expect up to 85 London firefighters -- more than one in five -- will make at least $100,000 this year in pay and taxable benefits.
That would be a dramatic jump from a year earlier, when 20 firefighters -- including senior brass -- cracked the $100,000 mark.
This year's disclosure comes as contract talks between the city and firefighters' association broke down, and as politicians wrestle with fears a global economic meltdown that's hit hard in St. Thomas and Windsor will soon find its mark in London.
The London Professional Fire Fighters Association disputes the numbers.
"I challenge them to make those figures public because I don't believe it," association president Jim Holmes said.
Civic workers who make at least $100,000 a year have their names and compensation publicly disclosed the following March under Ontario's public-sector salary disclosure law, the so-called sunshine law.
While the official list for London is months away, city hall sources say they expect between 80 and 85 firefighters this year to top $100,000 in pay and benefits. Factors driving up compensation include overtime and premium pay for extra years of service, or so-called retention pay.
The numbers reaching the $100,000 mark will happen even though pay and benefits are still based on last year's rates.
It may be a long time yet before a contract for 2008 is brokered or ordered by an arbitrator.
Negotiations began last month. But already the firefighters' association has requested a conciliator, Holmes said, after city hall management made clear face-to-face talks would go nowhere.
Negotiations for the last contract -- which expired in 2007 -- took nearly four years. The two sides signed off just last month on most remaining issues from that contract.
This time, there are several divisive issues. Firefighters want:
- A 3.34-per-cent boost in pay this year, the same as city council and the police services board gave London police.
- An extension of extra pay, called retention pay, which firefighters already get, to members of the association who aren't firefighters -- those who maintain equipment, inspect buildings, head communications and educate the public about fire safety.
The retention pay, along with the salary boost and benefits increases, raises what firefighters would get this year by 7.6 per cent, city hall sources have said.
Holmes questions that claim.
The city's chief administrative officer, Jeff Fielding, said yesterday he expects the contract dispute to be lengthy and to likely end with the decision of an arbitrator.
If the dispute ends up before an arbitrator, Holmes said, he's confident he or she will honour what he says is an accepted standard across Ontario -- pay equity between police and firefighters.
In 2007, 25 London police, including senior managers, made at least $100,000. Figures for this year will be available in March.
First-class firefighters last year received a basic wage of $73,511, the final year of a four-year contract that in 2004 paid first-class firefighters $64,175.
By comparison a first-class police constable this year received $80,807.
--- --- ---
WHAT THEY'RE PAID
Firefighters, first-class level: $73,511 a year
Police, first-class constable: $80,807 a year
Jonathan Sher is a Free Press city hall reporter.
 E-MAIL: Jonathan Sher
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