The City of Moose Jaw has been found guilty of unfair labour practice by failing to negotiate in good faith with the Moose Jaw Fire Fighters Association (MJFFA).
“The city did not, in good faith, enter into the process of collective bargaining over the terms and conditions of employment for the association’s members,” ruled the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board in a written decision from October.
The dispute revolved around the creation and eventual elimination of the fire department’s assistant chief positions.
In February of 2018, the MJFFA challenged the scope line of the positions, arguing they are in-scope.
The city had created the assistant chief positions as a means to replace the platoon commander positions with out-of-scope managerial positions. The city called it a “final reorganization” of the Moose Jaw Fire Department.
Last year, when the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board determined the city failed to prove the positions were out-of-scope, the city eliminated the positions entirely instead of renegotiating. They called the jobs redundant.
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The MJFFA filed an unfair labour complaint, as a result.
Matt Crocker, president of the MJFFA, told the board the city’s decision to eliminate the jobs without negotiating the terms of employment was like getting “hit in the face with a brick.”
In October, the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board ruled the city had acted in bad faith.
The board said the city had a “duty to bargain” not a “duty to agree.”
“The parties had a longstanding relationship, and they had worked tirelessly to establish trust. Trust was not easy to come by,” reads the decision.
“The city’s sudden decision, after so many months of negotiating, settling, and then litigating re-opened an old wound. The city acted in a piecemeal fashion, step-by-step, unravelling the composition of the bargaining unit. That is not to say that the city’s conduct was pre-meditated. But it was, at the very least, fickle.”
An order was made by the labour board that the assistant chief positions be reintegrated into the bargaining unit. The City of Moose Jaw and the MJFFA went back to the bargaining table this week.
Both the city and the MJFFA declined to be interviewed for the story. However, the city issued a written statement to Global News.
“The City of Moose Jaw looks forward to working with the Moose Jaw Fire Fighters Association to create a more harmonious relationship.”
This is the second time the City of Moose Jaw has been accused of unfair labour practice in recent years.
In 2016, the city was found guilty of bargaining in bad faith because Moose Jaw city council had reneged on an agreement to provide four terminated dispatchers with enhanced service payments.
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