A BROKEN SYSTEM?

Aim is to resolve contract disputes, but some, like the city of Toronto, want reform

An arbitrator’s role is to resolve contract renewal disputes between employers and unions representing workers who can’t strike. Here’s closer look. Why does it exist? The aim is to achieve a result ensuring public-sector employees do not fare better or worse than employees who have the right to strike to back their contract demands. What is Toronto’s position on interest arbitration? In 2013, the city wrote to the province asking it to require arbitrators to place more emphasis on the “fiscal health” of a community when making its rewards “in line with compensation increases given to other city employees.” Services might have to be reduced if salary awards are too generous, the city has warned. Other municipalities and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce also want the process changed and blame the powerful police and firefighter unions for pressuring the provincial government to maintain the system as is. What criteria are arbitrators supposed to consider? Arbitrators are legally required to consider an employer’s ability to pay in light of its fiscal situation, the extent to which services may have to be reduced, in light of the decision, if current funding and taxation levels are not increased, the economic situation of Ontario and in the municipality, a comparison of firefighters and other comparable public sector employees, the employer’s ability to attract and retain qualified firefighters. What will it take to contain spending on emergency services? Many believe a good start would be to keep elected officials away from the negotiating table. Politicians are too vulnerable to the “politics of fear” used by fire and police unions to back demands for more money. Police union leadership has a long history of promoting the idea the service needs more money to keep Toronto’s streets safe. Being called “soft on crime” doesn’t pack the wallop it once did, but no politician wants to wear that tag. What do police and firefighter unions say about the rising costs? Cities need to find efficiencies and, if need be, raise taxes. During the last round of firefighter interest arbitration, the city of Toronto argued it had an inability to pay owing to budget constraints. The union argued the “inability to pay” argument is political, not economic, and whatever financial limitations the city faces are a result of voluntary political decisions, such as the decision to eliminate the $60 personal vehicle tax. “In other words, the argument is that the city has the ability to pay, it just lacks the willingness to pay,” according to the blog of David J. Doorey, an associate professor of work law and industrial relations at York University. Why has Queen’s Park ignored calls for reform? Many cite the political influence of the firefighter and police unions, who are big supporters of interest arbitration. “No one can compete with the track record of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association in persuading the government of the day to get its way,” Star Queen’s Park columnist Martin Regg Cohn wrote last month. What do arbitrators say? In the 2013 decision involving Toronto’s firefighters, arbitrator Kevin Burkett wrote the employer’s ability to pay is just one factor used and suggested restricting an arbitrator’s discretion could violate charter rights.