THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF WASAGA BEACH ("the Town") WASAGA BEACH PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS ASSOCIATION ("the Association")

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1 IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION BETWEEN: THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF WASAGA BEACH ("the Town") - and - WASAGA BEACH PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS ASSOCIATION ("the Association") AND IN THE MATTER OF AN INTEREST MEDIATION-ARBITRATION TO RENEW A COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT EXPIRED ON DECEMBER 31, 2014 BOARD OF ARBITRATION: Kenneth P. Swan, Chair Andrew Reistetter, Town Nominee Jeffrey Sack, Q.C., Association Nominee APPEARANCES: For the Town: R. Ross Dunsmore, Counsel Mike Mc William, Fire Chief Craig Williams, Deputy Fire Chief Denise Henry, Human Resources Manager For the Association: Carmen Santoro, IAFF DFSR, Advocate Kevin Meyers, OPFF A, Assistant Advocate Kevin Pike, President, Local 3805 Ryan Maxwell, Negotiations Committee Chair John Delguidice, Negotiations Committee Member Jason Cameron, Vice-President, Local 3805 Colin Hunter, OPFFA District Vice-President

2 AWARD A mediation hearing in this matter was held in Toronto, Ontario on August 30, Essentially no progress was made at mediation, and an arbitration hearing was convened on October 26, The board of arbitration urged the parties to use the intervening time to attempt to resolve the central issue in dispute, the Association proposal for a 24-hour shift trial. The arbitration took place as scheduled, and written and oral submissions were received. By agreement with the parties, rebuttal briefs were exchanged and sent to the board of arbitration on November 17, 2017, and final reply briefs were exchanged and submitted on December 1, The board of arbitration met in executive session on December 18, 2017, and since that time we have exchanged communications on the issues in dispute. The parties concluded a Memorandum of Partial Settlement dated August 17, We incorporate the provisions of that settlement as a part of this award, along with the dispositions of the matters remaining in dispute set out below. In deliberating on these dispositions, we have taken into account the criteria established in section 50.5 of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act of Ontario. There are two issues in dispute: the Association proposal for a trial of a 24-hour shift schedule, and salaries. The parties also deferred to the board of arbitration on the question of the duration of the collective agreement to be established by this arbitration, although both expressed a desire that the agreement extend to at least December 31, We tum to the submissions of the parties, and our award.

3 HOUR SHIFT TRIAL It is fair to say that this issue is in complete deadlock between the parties. Such trials have been negotiated by parties acting voluntarily, and have been awarded by boards of arbitration, to the extent that at least trials and in some cases permanent 24 hour shift schedules exist in many fire services in this province, although the Town argues that most are larger than Wasaga Beach. These parties have not even been able to have a substantive discussion about how such a trial might be organized and conducted, apparently because the Town took the view that serious problems related to the ability of fire fighters to respond on call backs and to carry out training should be solved first. As noted above, we urged them to take the opportunity of the delay between mediation and arbitration to explore this issue, but for whatever reason, no such discussions took place. It is not our place to assign blame for this lack of engagement. It does appear to us, however, that no serious discussions will ever take place without considerable impetus from a third party. There exist a number of templates for a protocol for a 24 hour shift trial. The Association has provided a draft protocol for discussion, but there has been no real response. While we understand that the Town is reluctant to embark on such an experiment, other municipalities have done so without deleterious effect, and the Association asserts that in some municipalities the 24 hour shift is seen as an excellent scheduling system with significant benefits. No doubt, to account for concerns specific to Wasaga Beach, some adjustments will be necessary for both parties to enter confidently into a trial, but we have concluded that

4 - 3 - there should be such a trial. The experience in other municipalities suggests that ordering a trial and remitting the details of the protocol to the parties for resolution is more likely to kick-start discussions than waiting until the parties have a protocol before ordering a trial. For that reason, we have decided on the following award on this issue: There shall be a trial of a 24 hour shift schedule to be conducted beginning the nearest shift cycle to February 1, We remit to the parties for negotiation the details of a protocol to guide the conduct of the trial, subject to a condition that during the trial there shall be no decrease in the level of service and there shall be no additional costs respecting the operation of a 24 hour shift. If a precise formulation of this condition is required, the provision in the Ajax protocol shall be used. Such a trial will last at least four years. We understand that both of these conditions are acceptable to the parties. If the parties are unable to conclude a mutually agreeable protocol by November 2, 2018 they shall give notice to that effect to the board of arbitration, and shall submit to the board of arbitration in writing by November 23, 2018 those provisions on which they are agreed, and the alternative language proposed by each of them in respect of provisions on which they are unable to agree. The board of arbitration will finalize the language on which the trial is to be implemented without further hearing.

5 - 4 - SALARIES There is actually relatively little dispute between the parties about the evidence on which this matter is to be decided. The Association places emphasis on end-rate comparisons, while the Town stresses the staging of increases to reduce the overall costs of a settlement. Both of these factors require consideration, and we have given weight to each of them. We award that salaries for the benchmark First Class Firefighter classification be increased as follows: Effective date: January 1, 2015 January 1, 2016 January 1, 2017 July 1, 2017 January 1, 2018 July 1, 2018 Annual salary: $91,572 $93,403 $94,503 $95,600 $96,652 $97,715 As appears from this schedule, we award that the term of the collective agreement to be based on this award shall be January 1, 2015 to December 31, We award that all other rates shall be adjusted in accordance with the collective agreement on the same dates. These increases are to be fully retroactive for all persons who were employed during the period covered by this award, and retroactivity amounts owing shall be paid within 60 days of the date of this award.

6 - 5 - We retain jurisdiction over all aspects of this arbitration to the extent necessary to ensure that this matter is finally resolved by the execution of a binding collective agreement between the parties. DATED AT TORONTO, ONTARIO THIS li 11 DAY OF AUGUST, I dissent "Andrew Reistetter" Andrew Reistetter, Town Nominee I dissent "Jeffrey Sack" Jeffrey Sack, Association Nominee