London Mayor Joe Fontana has challenged the London Police Association to consider voluntarily reducing a proposed wage increase.
He is asking that their wage increase be reduced by half of one percent and says it will make significant impact on the city’s budget and show Londoners that officers understand the impact of the economic slowdown.
In a statement Fontana said “Other public service sectors have had to pull back on wages and I’m asking our police officers to think about doing the same...Teachers, healthcare workers, and city employees have all had their wages affected by the challenges of slimmer budgets and the need to hold the line. We need to all work together until our economy is strong again – across the board."
Fontana added that he understands the quality and value of the city's officers, but that the challenge is about asking them to help the city and its residents.
"Taxpayers are bearing the burden of automatic pay raises for public servants when they themselves are often looking at a reduction in income. I know this isn’t going to make me popular but my job is to encourage all our departments to find workable ways to keep our spending in line with the city’s income. If we all hold our costs in check by keeping increases to the bare minimum London will be in a stronger economic position. Everyone will be better off.”
The mayor added that he hopes the police association will seriously consider his suggestion.
Police have asked for a 3.3 per cent increase, or $2.9 million more in 2014, after opting to use reserve funds to cover some costs, with about 95 per cent going to fixed contractual obligations for wages.
London Police Association President Rick Robson says he was taken aback by the mayor's challenge, and the association won't be changing the 2.6 per cent increase negotiated for their membership in the coming year.
"We negotiated a collective agreement. It was a four-year collective agreement that was set when the mayor was on the Police services board. He was aware of the conditions of that collective agreement, which he was a party to, agreed to that...so we're not entertaining reopening the collective agreement right now."
While Robson says they don't mind helping out the community has a whole, that can be accomplished when they negotiate for their new contract for 2015.
"When our collective agreement is up at the end of 2014, and the mayor wants to participate in the collective agreement and have those conversations about a good-faith gesture then we'll have those conversations at that time."
Still Fontana says something needs to be done to trim the police budget before it's finalized in February.
