PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “patience and fortitude conquer all things”.


This could not be clearer than in the current round of contract negotiations between the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Police Association.

The Bargaining Committees met for four days this past week. In this time, we went back and forth on a number of non-monetary items from our proposals.

Anyone who has watched these negotiations in previous years knows that they are a long, slow dance involving much back and forth.

It is a dance that requires patience.

But, as per Emerson, this particular bargaining dance also requires fortitude.

The fortitude to enable the parties to reach an agreement which respects and adapts to the 2011 reality for all public services: deliver better services with a high level of accountability and transparency, and to do so in a fiscally responsible manner.

BUDGETS, SALARIES AND POLICE SERVICE……

Across the province, municipalities are at various stages of the budget process. For some, the process is complete and, for others, the process is only beginning.

What remains consistent is that whether the municipality has its own police service, like Toronto, is part of a regional service, like Mississauga or uses the Ontario Provincial Police, like Thunder Bay, the cost of policing and the rising cost of police service is a growing concern; in particular, the costs related to contract settlements.

This recent story in the Globe and Mail provides some background on the issue and an introduction to another issue we are certain to hear more about in the future – the recent Ontario Provincial Police contract settlement and the “Number 1” clause.

POLICE BARGAINING 101

Over the last few weeks there has been much discussion throughout the City regarding collective bargaining. The Police, the TTC and the City’s outside workers are all scheduled to be in collective bargaining at some point this year.  You can read about it here.   


The Toronto Police Services Board (the Board) has already commenced collective bargaining with the Toronto Police Association (the Association) which represents approximately 2100 civilian and 5600 uniform members of the Toronto Police Service. The Association’s current agreements expired on December 31, 2010.

Historically, the police collective bargaining has been a long drawn-out process, occurring over the course of a year or more. As with collective bargaining generally, the parties meet and work toward achieving a negotiated agreement. Built into the process are provisions for mediation and arbitration, to be used if the two sides cannot reach an agreement on their own.

With regard to the current round of bargaining, the bargaining teams for the Board and the Association exchanged proposals in late January, with bargaining scheduled to take place through the late winter and Spring 2011.


It is our hope that with this expedited schedule, we will be able to reach a negotiated agreement which meets the needs of residents and police service members.

The Board’s approach to the bargaining will continue to be based on two key considerations. First, members of the Toronto Police Service should be well paid. Second, we must be responsible to our community and be mindful of today's fiscal reality.

WINDSOR STAR

An interesting article on police bargaining from the Windsor Star. 

THE WORLD’S A TWITTER

Suddenly, it seems as though all the world's a-twitter.
- Newsweek

Blogging and Tweeting.

In 2007, we launched this blog with the intention of providing readers with information on the Board, what we do and events related to policing. Since then we have posted over 100 blogs ranging from bargaining, to the United Way campaign and to the long gun registry.


Today, we join 190 million people around the world on Twitter..... you can follow us here.


And while you are following us, you can also follow a number of men and women in the Toronto Police Service.