Exception allows firefighters to recoup wage premiums

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This article was published 13/09/2018 (2910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Around the same time the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) went to city council asking for $4.8 million in extra funding due to out-of-control payroll costs, department brass granted a policy exception to a handful of firefighters that allowed them to keep extra money in their pockets.

That exception — which allowed members to re-enter the department’s paramedic program to recoup a three per cent wage premium — was granted after the union representing city firefighters lobbied on its members’ behalf.

The premium adds up to roughly $150,000 over a career, according to the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg (UFFW).

“We lobbied the administration to allow these individuals to regain their (Primary Care Paramedic Program) status so that they could keep their three per cent pay premium,” UFFW president Alex Forrest wrote in a recent letter to union rank and file.

When brought on staff, city firefighters are required to participate in the paramedic program for a set number of years. Depending on whether they were hired before or after 2017, they must spend six or nine years in the program, respectively.

The program requires them to function as hands-on paramedics, maintain their paramedic licence and participate in continuing education. After their mandatory time in the program, members can opt out and function solely as city firefighters.

“We negotiated the opt-out clause in the collective agreement as we know some individuals have various reasons as to why they want to cease being firefighter-PCPs, however we caution every member to think long and hard about taking yourself out of the program,” Forrest wrote.

“If you leave the program you will still have to attend medical emergencies; the difference is that the three per cent wage premium will not be applied to your wages.”

A WFPS spokeswoman said in the past the department allowed some members to rescind their opt-out requests on a case-by-case basis, but later gave notice it was stopping this practice. The change in policy within the department was due to the heavy administrative burden the practice posed.

“WFPS gave notice that it would be exercising their management right as per the collective agreement to not allow members to rescind their opt-out decision. Once they had submitted their request members could not rescind their request,” the spokeswoman said in a written statement.

It was then the UFFW lobbied on behalf of the five city firefighters and the WFPS agreed to provide a one-time exception to department policy. Both the UFFW and the WFPS said the exception won’t be granted again.

It remains unclear how much money the exception will cost taxpayers this year. On Sept. 4, the city’s finance committee approved $4.8 million in additional funding to the WFPS budget to avoid a projected shortfall by the end of the year.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @rk_thorpe