In the Fire Arbitration Award issued January 27, 2020, the arbitration board supported the City’s proposal to reduce the minimum staffing from five on-duty Firefighters to four.

The arbitration dealt with the January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018 contract with the Owen Sound Professional Firefighters Association. The transition to four on-duty Firefighters will result in a substantial savings to the ratepayer of Owen Sound due to decreased overtime.

Council’s support of the staffing proposal and their ability under the Fire Prevention and Protection Act to set the service levels for fire suppression in the City was noted several times by the arbitration board in the award.

The arbitration board chair Lorne Slotnick agreed with the City’s position that the reduction in on-duty staffing will not impact the safety of the public or members of the Owen Sound Fire and Emergency Services as similar staffing models are used in comparable municipalities to Owen Sound.

The City and the Fire Association will be continuing negotiations this year for the next contract to have begun January 1, 2019.

source: media release, City of Owen Sound