The City of Guelph is asking for a judicial review after an arbitrator awarded Guelph firefighters a wage increase.
The Guelph Professional Firefighters Association was awarded a 7.47 per cent increase over three years as well as a 1.99 per cent increase in benefits.
Andy MacDonald, General Manager of Emergency Services with the city, says they want the court to review the award because the arbitrators didn’t follow the law in reaching their decision.
MacDonald says the arbitrator based the award on cases that weren’t presented as evidence during the hearing; therefore the city did not have a chance to rebut that evidence.
“We just want to see that the law is followed. This isn’t about firefighters; we really value the work that they do. We’re not too sure what may happen if the judicial review is accepted. We may end up with the same award or something better, or something worse. We're just confident that if the law is followed we'll get the right result," MacDonald said.
The city had started negotiations with Guelph firefighters in 2014.
The final decision will now be in the hands of the court.
