Budget with more hires sent back for cuts
Oct 15, 2008 - 12:45 PM
By Jeff Mitchell
DURHAM -- Durham cops are vowing to escalate their job action tactics if contract negotiations scheduled for this weekend don't prove fruitful.
Officers, who are already wearing ball caps and handing out information pamphlets to protest what they see as slow progress in talks with the regional police services board, could begin exercising discretion in handing out traffic tickets beginning next Monday, Durham Regional Police Association president Doug Cavanaugh said Wednesday.
"That's the next step," Mr. Cavanaugh said as members of the police services board met Wednesday morning at Durham Region headquarters in Whitby.
"We hope we don't have to get there."
Durham cops write an average of $400,000 to $500,000 a month in provincial offences tickets, according to the association. Revenue from fines goes to the Region.
The 1,100 uniform cops and civilian workers represented by the DRPA began their job action Oct. 6 after talks with the police services board's bargaining committee failed to produce a contract. The association members, who've been without a contract since Jan. 1, are wearing caps emblazoned with the emblem 10-33 -- communications code for officer in need of assistance -- and handing out pamphlets outlining their concerns to the public.
Among those concerns are adequate staffing levels to address the needs of a growing region. Mr. Cavanaugh said the association wants to see at least 20 frontline cops hired over the three-year term of the next contract.
Those hopes weren't reinforced Wednesday morning when Chief Mike Ewles's draft budget, which included funding for 19 new cops and five new civilian employees, was sent back to be trimmed by $300,000. The chief is to submit another draft budget next month.
Roger Anderson, the regional chairman and head of the police services board's negotiating committee, asked the chief to bring the budget increase for 2009 in line with guidelines approved by regional council.
The chief's budget numbers called for new frontline officers and detectives to bolster busy robbery, fraud and child abuse departments.
"We have to keep pace with growth, demand and expectations," Chief Ewles told board members, as police officers donning 10-33 balls caps looked on from the public gallery.
"I hope (the new hires) don't get deferred to our next budget," the chief said.
Mr. Anderson said outside the meeting the board has offered the officers a contract that includes a 9.3 per cent wage increase over three years and other incentives.
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