A 7.47 pay increase over three years is a fair one for Guelph’s firefighters, a judge has ruled.
The City of Guelph had been pursuing legal action over the contract handed down for firefighters last year, which covered the years 2015 to 2017.
An arbitrator mandated the 7.47 per cent raise, as well as a 1.99 per cent increase to firefighters’ benefits.
The city had been seeking smaller increases, arguing that firefighters’ raises should be along the same lines as those received by other city workers, while firefighters posited that firefighters from other cities were a better comparison point.
The arbitrator met the two sides in the middle, deciding on a contract with raises partially based on Guelph police officers and partially based on Kitchener firefighters.
That decision was appealed by the city, which argued that the arbitrator should have stuck to either the city’s position or the union’s, and that the raises themselves were “unreasonable.”
Ontario Superior Court Justice Dale Fitzpatrick disagreed, ruling Friday that the arbitrator acted within the law.
“There is nothing novel about an arbitration award that falls within the range between the two points representing each party’s respective position,” he wrote.
Fitzpatrick ordered the city to pay $6,000 to the Guelph Professional Fire Fighters Association to cover its legal costs for the appeal.
