The Saint John Police Force headquarters, located at One Peel Plaza. (Staff photo)
The Saint John Police Association bargained in bad faith earlier this year, according to a new ruling from the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board.
In a news release Monday, the Saint John Police Commission said it will resume negotiations with the police union later this month.
“We value the members of the Saint John Police Force, and want to reach an agreement with them,” said Ed Keyes, chair of the commission, in the release.
“We remain hopeful the Association will be open to considering the position of the Force’s management so that we can reach a new collective agreement that benefits members and the community.”
The commission filed a complaint in March, claiming the union refused to “engage in any meaningful discussions” about its proposals — which include changes to the process for promotions and shift schedules — or to “enter into discussions on wages and other financial terms.”
It also said the union had only participated in face-to-face meetings, including conciliation, for about two hours.
But the union argued the “arbitrary wage escalation policy” tying wage increases to the city’s assessment growth made it impossible to conduct negotiations on wages.
The Saint John Police Association said the “waters were muddied” early in the negotiation process with the Saint John Police Commission.
Const. Duane Squires, president of the association, said meetings held in January and February were brief.
He said a one-year contract settlement offer accepted by the association was not accepted by the commission, who said their negotiator was not authorized to provide the agreement.
Squires said they have also run into delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are going back to negotiations and quite frankly when we started, we had a different chief of police. I am not quite sure who made the proposals on behalf of the employer. They did not provide that evidence at the hearing,” Squires said.
Squires noted the term “bad faith” is not mentioned in section 34 (2) of the Industrial Relations Act covering the Labour board ruling involving the association.
“It doesn’t talk about good faith or bad faith. It says ‘they should make every reasonable effort to conclude a renewal or revision of the agreement or a new agreement,” Squires said.
He adds there has been good cooperation between their officers and police management on challenges concerning COVID-19 and the recent cyber attack in Saint John.
Ed Keyes, chair of the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners, was unavailable to speak with reporters on Monday.
The commission said the negotiations, which will be assisted by a provincially-appointed mediator, will begin no later than Dec. 16.
With files from Brad Perry and Tamara Steele.
