Transit Police officers have been awarded a 10.4 per cent wage increase as part of a four-year collective agreement.
An independent labour arbitrator has made the increase retroactive to January 2016, and includes a 2.5 per cent hike as of this month.
The pay increase is part of a move to put transit officers’ wages on par with the Vancouver Police Union, that is, equal salary to a First Class Constable’s salary.
In his decision, arbitrator Stan Lanyon said both Transit Police and its union, the Transit Police Professional Association, agree that officers perform a “full range” of duties, noting their work most closely resembles that of B.C. municipal police forces.
“Both parties expressly reject what they see as an unfortunate public perception that the Transit Police officers are simply ‘highly paid fare checkers,'” read the decision.
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Lanyon’s ruling says both B.C. municipal police forces and transit police officers are subject to discipline under the B.C. Police Act, both are trained to the same standards, and both have full police powers on and off the transit system without limitation.
“It is agreed that the Transit Police perform the full range of patrol based duties, and general investigative functions, as do any other police service; and in addition, they perform some specialized investigations such as transit-related sex crimes,” read the ruling.
According to the union, many of the transit officers include former municipal police and RCMP officers.
The pay increase will be split over a three-year period.
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