The Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) decided, in a preliminary hearing July 3, to remove Edmonton lawyer Dwayne Chomyn as Rocky View County counsel.
The decision comes after a long-standing dispute between the firefighters union and the county.
Chomyn, who works for Newman Thompson, was hired by the county at the end of March.
The county and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) began negotiating operation costs for Rocky View County Fire Services for the first time in the spring of 2010 and entered five days of arbitration on Feb. 24, 2013 to resolve outstanding items.
IAFF President Jeff Cragg said about 30 items, including wages, hours of work, workers’ compensation benefits, shift exchanges, pensions and sick leave, were brought to arbitration.
However, Cragg said the county and IAFF “broke off into separate rooms (for four of the five days) and came to an agreement on many of the items.” He added the annual wage of $92,303, per year for a full-time fourth-year first-class firefighter, an increase from $89,614 in July 2012, was one of the agreements made by the county.
When asked how much the pay increase would cost the municipality, county officials would not give a total.
The remaining 18 outstanding items were resolved by the arbitration board, which Chomyn concurrently served on as the county’s appointed nominee. While waiting for the arbitration award to be released, Rocky View County cut 12 full-time firefighter positions June 13, citing “dramatically rising costs” as the reason for the cuts.
The 12 positions being turfed represent a reduction from five firefighters per shift per station to four, leaving 48 union positions from 60. The cuts come from the county’s three full-time stations in Elbow Valley, Springbank and Balzac. The county also has three non-union volunteer stations in Langdon, Irricana and Madden.
According to Ted Gard, Rocky View County’s general manager of community services, the reduction in staff, along with changes to responding to calls, are expected to save the county approximately $4 million over the next three years.
The county’s 2013 capital budget is $37.5 million and operational spending is just less than $136 million.
IAFF filed a complaint to the ALRB on June 20 requesting Chomyn be removed as counsel for the county.
Sean McManus, legal representative for IAFF, stated in his presentation to ALRB at the hearing held in Calgary July 3, Chomyn’s role as an arbitration board member and as counsel to one of the parties on the same issue is a conflict of interest.
“Whether it was bad faith for the county, with the assistance of Chomyn as the county’s nominee on the board, to agree to wages that it now relies on as being unaffordable. Secondly, whether the county should’ve disclosed to the arbitration board, again including Chomyn, it’s decision to lay-off all full-time firefighters,” he said.
Damon Bailey, legal representative for Rocky View County at the preliminary hearing, said a role on an arbitration board “is not one that requires impartially to be contended (because) it’s an advocacy role.” Although a court date has not been set yet, legal proceedings began June 17 between IAFF and the county for bargaining in bad faith. Cragg said the IAFF is “pleased” about the outcome of the preliminary hearing.
“They did the right thing ... It is our hope that with the ruling by the board today that we will be able to have dates set in the near future as many of our members lives are hanging in the balance right now,” he added in an email.
