An interest arbitrator has awarded Sudbury firefighters the same wage rate as local police officers, citing a two-decade pattern of parity between the two services and rejecting the city’s push to align fire wages with municipal workers instead.
The arbitrator set the first-class firefighter rate at $111,478 for 2024, matching the police rate, and included a provision requiring the city to maintain that parity for 2025 and 2026.
“The local police rates should be accorded significant weight given the clear historical pattern,” the arbitrator wrote in the November decision.
The ruling affects approximately 142 firefighters represented by Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 527. The collective agreement expired December 31, 2023.
The wage dispute centered on which comparators should guide the settlement. The city wanted the arbitrator to consider wage increases negotiated with its indoor and outdoor workers. The association argued regional fire services and local police were more appropriate.
The arbitrator sided with the union’s approach, tracing the fire-police wage relationship back to at least 2004.
“When the collective agreement history is considered, it is apparent that the parties have given serious consideration to the arbitral jurisprudence that supports fire-police comparability,” the decision stated.
An arbitrator awarded parity with police wages in a 2010 interest arbitration. The collective agreement expiring in 2014 included specific language “to maintain parity with the Greater Sudbury Police Services for the calendar year 2014.”
In a 2017 interest arbitration, an arbitrator rejected the city’s characterization of this provision and “held that the clause provided a guarantee that the firefighters’ rate would not fall below the Sudbury police rate,” according to the current decision.
The pattern diverged when collective agreement terms didn’t align. Fire rates exceeded police rates from 2017 to 2020, while police rates were higher from 2021 to 2023. But since 2020, differences have been less than $300 annually.
For 2025 and 2026, the arbitrator set rates at $116,900 and $119,000 respectively, with the caveat that “the annual wage rates for the 1st class firefighter for 2025 and 2026 will be amended, if necessary, to maintain parity with the Greater Sudbury Police Services for those years.”
Overtime costs addressed
The arbitrator awarded changes to overtime provisions after finding the city demonstrated cost concerns, though with a measured approach.
“The data put forward by the City shows a decrease in overtime hours worked over the past three years. However, there is no question that the costs associated with those hours has increased,” the decision stated.
The award now requires all accumulated overtime hours to be paid out at year-end. Employees can still choose payout at time and one-half or bank hours for straight-time use, but payout requests must be made by December 15.
A new provision also requires payout of all accumulated overtime hours upon promotion, paid “at the rate at which the overtime was worked (e.g. where a Firefighter is promoted to Captain, all accumulated time up until promotion shall be paid at the Firefighter rate prior to promotion).”
Benefit enhancements
The arbitrator awarded several benefit improvements, noting they “follow a trend in the sector.”
The accidental death benefit was clarified to cover line-of-duty deaths from occupational disease, “whether or not the death occurs during or following active employment, as determined by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.”
The award also eliminates prior authorization requirements for prescription drugs with Health Canada drug identification numbers.
Other benefit increases include:
- Hearing aids: $1,500 every 36 months
- Chiropractor: $950
- Massage: $950
- Psychologist: $4,000
Wage differentials also increased effective January 1, 2024. Platoon chiefs now receive 132 per cent of the first-class firefighter rate, while captains and training officers receive 119 per cent.
The three-year collective agreement runs from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2026. Employees who left since January 1, 2024 have 30 days after notification to claim retroactive payments.
For more information, see the full text of the ruling here.
