New contract for Windsor Police Association

By Ashley Ann Mentley

A five-year contract between the Windsor Police Association and the Windsor Police Services Board has been signed without arbitration.

The agreement includes increasing shifts to 12 hours in length, minor benefit improvements and an approximately 1.5 per cent salary increase each year.  It is the first contract the Windsor police have reached without arbitration in almost 10 years.

According to Mayor Drew Dilkens, the past few contract settlements involving arbitration have not been in favour of the police boards.

“Clearly we’ve been very vocal as a group of mayors all across Ontario saying we believe the arbitration system in the province is fractured and we need some solutions to deal with that,” Dilkens said.

He said he is not alone in this opinion and it is the same message almost every mayor in Ontario has been sending to the provincial government.

Windsor police will now begin a trial period that implements the new 12-hour shifts.  This is a system already in place elsewhere throughout the province with the Ontario Provincial Police, as well as in Essex County.  Dilkens said the major difference is that they are implementing it into an urban environment rather than rural.

Jason Dejong, president of the Windsor Police Association, said the contract won’t involve any staffing changes.  He said it is cost neutral and the biggest change will be moving from five shifts to four shifts per week.

“From our perspective we think this is a fair deal,” Dilkens said.  “It’s fair for the service and clearly the officers think it’s fair as well and at the end of the day it’s fair for the community.”