Midland town staff and non-union employees received a 1.75% increase in cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and an update to the 2021 wage grid during a recent council meeting.
But it didn’t occur until CAO David Denault made an impassioned plea on their behalf.
Late into the council meeting, a motion bringing a staff report to the floor allowed the town’s CAO to provide clarification on facts for the councillors.
“This report represents about 27% of the population of our staff complement,” began Denault’s commentary, speaking of about 30 people in approximately 20 roles.
“Many of them you know because they appear at this council meeting; they support council and deal with the public on a regular basis.”
COLA allows for increases in wages at specified intervals during the life of a contract, as measured by the consumer price index. These COLA clauses were common in collective bargaining settlements during the 1970’s and 1980’s, but became less relevant and desired by unions with lower, more stable annual inflation, according to the Government of Canada.
Within the report, the human resources committee provided information about union groups IBEW and OPSEU negotiating for 1.75% increases and firefighters for a 2.75% increase in 2021.
Other southern and central Ontario municipalities have supported their management/non-union COLA staff with similar increases to the report’s recommendations.
The turning point came after councillors Bill Gordon, Cody Oschefski and Carole McGinn announced they wouldn’t be supporting the motion for various reasons.
Gordon praised the management/non-union staff and attempted to amend the report to have the increase start in June without being retroactive, in response to the recent tax increase.
Oschefski didn’t think “a symbolic gesture on the backs of our staff is the right move” while McGinn said she would support Gordon’s amended motion.
Denault retaliated quickly stating he couldn’t disagree more with the councillors.
“What I think they're failing to understand is there are $400,000 of savings in this budget that includes the contribution of this team,” Denault began. “They are covering for people that don't exist in the organization today because they're not available, they have left, or they have retired.
“Those are hard concrete numbers; these aren’t ‘symbolic gestures’ by staff. This is $400,000 of savings committed in the budget by these people. I think, absolutely, they deserve it.”
Denault continued with carefully chosen phrasing, implying ramifications if the motion failed.
“I think it's really important that you understand the consequences of the loss of people, because in a very competitive market like this, to find somebody and replace somebody is extremely costly. And it is a very, very competitive marketplace for these types of services.”
In the month of April 2021, a Job Demand Report was released by Simcoe County stating that nearly 7,000 new jobs were available, which Denault reinforced to council by saying “when you lose someone in the municipal sector… it is extremely hard” to find replacements.
“(We) did interviews today for finance,” said Denault. “We had an opening for finance. Zero applicants from Midland. Zero applicants from Simcoe.
“All of the applicants came from the GTA, and this was for a full-time job. That’s good for Midland because we are getting people coming here and there’s probably a change of lifestyle that they’re looking for, but we cannot find people. And we need them.”Gordon’s amendment to the motion consequently failed during a recorded vote, and the original motion passed immediately 8-1 with Gordon recording to the only nay.
