Re: Progress on the cost of our Fire Department
I am a retired firefighter and have engaged Mr Tamming through private email in the past. He has acknowledged that he or those informing him have not always had accurate information.
I will address a couple of his comments in as neutral a way as I can. Yes we lost our manning clause in the last arbitration. To wit daily staffing is not generally affected each platoon has six assigned firefighters.
Typically five are on duty due to vacation, lieu days etc. All this victory has done is leave firstly, the citizens at risk, and secondly, the firefighters at risk. If there is a book off, rather than call in OT the shift goes to four firefighters or three firefighters and a captain in reality. This takes a truck out of service and depletes resources to the point that the job cannot be done safely for anyone. In the event of a structure fire and a second alarm is struck the on call, contingent has ten minutes to respond from home or wherever they are in the city. The first five minutes dictate the next five hours on a fireground. Personpower is a huge difference maker – yes it saves money but to what end?
Orangeville now has twenty career firefighters and twenty eight paid on-call firefighters, these are not "hybrid" departments but are called composite departments. Orangeville serves an area that includes several smaller surrounding communities over a large area. Not a fair comparison to Owen Sound. Let's use one of our true comparables. In Collingwood, they run with a minimum of six per shift with a paid on-call contingent who are members of the Collingwood fire department and are used in situations that overwhelm the career suppression division. The key with that and other composite departments is the paid on-call firefighters are hired by the city in question, trained the same and can work seemlessly with the career side. Rather than some ham handed agreement that has been created on a whim.
Re grievances, I will not delve into the politics. I will say that I retired from one of the most toxic workplaces I have ever experienced! Funny how a change in leadership makes a huge difference.
Re arbitration and the collective agreement, this too is something I will not comment on other than Mr. Tamming your opinion of of the collective agreement would suggest that it is because it is a pretty solid document. Your esteemed colleague Mr. Saunders loves taking city of Owen Sound money. We too pay huge legal bills.
At last we agree on something – the hall on 3rd Avenue East is falling apart and needs serious renovation. Under the Disabilities Act they need to put an elevator in and there is no accommodations for female firefighters. It is only a matter of time before the best candidate hired is a female.
To conclude, another thing we agree on. The citizens of Owen Sound are blessed with the dedication and professionalism of every single member of the department who will, as trite as it may sound, put their life on the line to save yours. Do their best to save your property and contents. I trusted every single one of them with my life and they me with theirs. I will defend them til I cannot articulate my thoughts. The good they do that does not make the papers is virtually unknown.They truly care about and contribute to the well being of Owen Sound.
– by Al Douglas
