With their hand forced by Ontario Provincial Police union negotiations, the Ottawa police will likely need to increase their retention bonuses to keep qualified officers on the force, CTV Ottawa has learned.
Last year, OPP negotiators convinced the provincial government to increase the bonus from between four and 10 per cent, depending on the years of service.
Ottawa police will be under heavy pressure to follow suit.
"All I know is once you have negotiated with one association or union, it will snowball for the rest of them," says Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, who sits on the police services board.
Loophole in provincial government salary freezes
Right now, the retention bonus in the Ottawa police contract stands between three and nine per cent.
The situation exposes another loophole in the Ontario government's plan to control wages.
Non-union government workers had their salaries frozen in the recent budget; the province says there's nothing they can do about police bonuses.
"That's part of the collective agreement that's in place," says Rick Bartolucci, minister of community safety. "(Premier Dalton McGuinty) was very clear we will be honouring collective agreements."
Nearly 200 per cent increase since amalgamation
Since amalgamation, the Ottawa police budget bumped up from $120 million in 2001 to $231 million in 2009 -- a nearly 200 per cent increase in eight years.
And last week, the city's "sunshine list" of top earners revealed that first responders account for two-thirds of the list. Ottawa police made up 405 of the 735 municipal workers earning more than $100,000.
Ottawa city council is heeding the call to keep wages under control, but El-Chantiry says it will be difficult to deny what the union asks for.
"Anytime you stand up to the union and say no, arbitrator comes foward and says no," he says.
"In London, Ont. they gave them three, six, nine (per cent); why can't Ottawa give them three, six, nine? It's the only logic they have."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee
