Police to get 6.5% pay hike in three-year contract

The Saskatoon Police Association has agreed to much more modest raises in its latest contract than in its previous one.

The police union and the Saskatoon board of police commissioners have ratified a three-year agreement that runs to the end of 2019, the board says.

The contract, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017, offers cumulative increases of 6.5 per cent, including an increase of 1.30 per cent at the start of 2017 and a Dec. 1, 2017 increase of 1.45 per cent.

Police salaries will rise by two per cent on Dec. 1 and another 1.75 per cent on Oct. 1, 2019.

The previous contract, which expired at the end of 2016, provided an 11 per cent increase in pay over three years.

The police union represents 509 members of the Saskatoon Police Service. Some 97 per cent of the union membership reportedly voted to accept the new contract.

The board ratified the contract at its meeting on June 14.

The police union is the second bargaining unit to approve an agreement with the City of Saskatoon; most city employees remain without a contract.

All of the city’s collective agreements expired at the end of 2016, except for that covering Saskatoon Transit employees, which expired at the end of march in 2017.

Smaller increases were expected in this round of contracts after the provincial government slashed funding for cities in its March 2017 budget.