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Kelowna firefighters sign seven-year labour agreement

Kelowna firefighters sign seven-year labour agreement | iNFOnews.ca
The Kelowna Fire Department has signed a new labour agreement with the City of Kelowna. Photographer: John McDonald

KELOWNA – Firefighters and adminstrative staff with the Kelowna Fire Department will enjoy a series of raises after signing a new collective agreement with the City of Kelowna.

Firefighters have been without a contract since the end of 2012 but on Monday, June 15 the local firefighters union and the City of Kelowna ratified an agreement giving firefighters a 2.5 per cent annual increase. The agreement is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013, and will end Dec. 31, 2019.

Dispatch and adminstrative staff will get an annual 1.25 increase over the same period.

“This agreement proivdes for improvements for our employees who have been without an agreement since 2012 and we were also able to agree on some new contract language that will help the city significantly reduce costs for overtime and dispatch services,” the city’s lead negotiator Stu Leatherdale says in a press release.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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