That is how many days we have been in face-to-face contract negotiations with the Association.
We exchanged proposals in the context of:
• The Board’s accountability to the residents and taxpayers of the City of Toronto (the people who pay for policing),
• The fact that the City of Toronto is facing a nearly $800 million budget shortfall in 2012, and
• That about 90 percent of the Toronto Police Service’s 906 million dollar budget goes to salaries and benefits.
At the same time, we believe that our service members play an incredibly important role in keeping the city safe. Therefore, they deserve to be fairly compensated.
Sadly, in 11 days we were not able to reach a negotiated settlement. In fairness, this has been an expedited negotiations schedule. In previous years, this process has transpired over the course of at least a year.
Now, as per the process outlined in the collective agreements, we will head to mediation on April 16, 17 and 18.
Hopefully, with the help of a mediator, we will be able to reach a negotiated settlement. If not, we will advance to interest arbitration in late June 2011.
Stay tuned.
