Battle over Kamloops firefighters' contract heats up

By Andrea Klassen - Kamloops This Week Published: July 18, 2012 4:00 PM


A year and a half after their last contract expired, Kamloops firefighters and the city are headed to arbitration, after an unsuccessful attempt at mediation earlier this month. City of Kamloops chief administration officer David Trawin said the two sides met for a day of mediation and “it became apparent that we weren’t going to get a deal done.” The city has since filed an application to take negotiations to arbitration. But, Trawin said, it could be next spring before that takes place. The last firefighters’ contract expired on Dec. 31, 2010. Trawin said “compensation issues” have been the major sticking point for the city. “There are a lot of issues on the table,” he said. “There’s movement on both sides, but not enough movement to get the deal done.” Kris Krutop, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters local 913, said the main issue from his side of the bargaining table is wages. “Basically, in a nutshell, we want what our [comparables] in the Lower Mainland have,” he said. “I went to the table to ask for the same, and I didn’t get that.” Standards for firefighter pay throughout the province are generally set in the Lower Mainland, Krutop said. Firefighters throughout B.C. usually make the same as their Vancouver counterparts, plus or minus a percentage or two. “The job’s the same everywhere in the province. Risk is the same, life expectancy is a little bit lower than the average,” he said. “So we’re compensated financially for the risk of the operation. “Fires don’t burn any hotter in Vancouver than they do in Kamloops, they’re no more dangerous. The job is essentially equally as dangerous in both places.” Krutop said the union asked for wage increases similar to those awarded in Saanich and Delta. The latter department was awarded a six per cent pay bump for 2010 and 2011. A more recent arbitration this March saw Vancouver firefighters get a 5.5 per cent increase over 21 months. Krutop said he expects an arbitrator will award Kamloops firefighters something similar, as has been the provincial trend in the past. Awarding a lower increase would be “breaking new territory” — something he doesn’t expect an arbitrator would be eager to do. Krutop said he can’t recall Kamloops firefighters ever having taken the city to arbitration in the past. “It’s pretty unusual,” he said. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that we asked for the same wages they ask for in the Lower Mainland. “We’ve had contract parity with Vancouver as long as I can remember.”