Orillia’s firefighters have a new collective agreement with the city after four years without one.
The previous agreement expired Dec. 31, 2017. The new one, awarded through arbitration, includes salary increases and is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2018. It is effective until Dec. 31, 2023.
The salary for a first-class firefighter as of Jan. 1, 2018, increased 1.1 per cent, to $96,652. As part of the new agreement, that salary will increase to $108,259 as of July 1, 2023.
The agreement includes benefit increases, including massage therapy (from $350 to $600), chiropractic (from $400 to $600), physiotherapy (from $450 to $600), vision care (from $400 to $475 every two years) and dental (from $1,500 to $1,750 for major restorative and from $2,000 to $2,250 for orthodontic).
The arbitrator, M.G. Mitchnick, also determined the city will provide a benefits expenditure plan — for retirees older than 65 — in the amount of $2,000 per year for 10 years.
In his report, Mitchnick noted arbitration is not new to the city and its firefighters.
“The bargaining history between the parties, for whatever reason, is not what would be hoped, with all five of the renewal agreements between the parties in the last 21 years having been settled by interest arbitration,” he wrote.
