Quinte West Volunteer Firefighters Vote Overwhelmingly in Favour of New Contract

Quinte West, ON—Volunteer firefighters with the City of Quinte West voted 92 percent in favour of ratifying a three-year collective agreement providing them with pay increases and other improvements.

The more than 140 firefighters are represented by Eastern Ontario Volunteer Firefighters Association, CLAC Local 920. The union has represented them since August 2004.

With the new agreement, the firefighters move to a one-rate pay system for both call response and training. These rates will increase by 1.9 percent in years 2 and 3 of the contract. The move means that the training rate increases by 84.3 percent. The rate for probationary firefighters was increased by 47.4 percent. In addition, new leather boots are provided after five years now instead of 10, and tactical boots each year.

“Negotiations were a long process, but we are beyond happy that both parties finally reached a settlement that the membership showed overwhelming support for,” says Jennifer Kennedy, CLAC representative.