British Columbia Local Signs Historic First Collective Agreement

Members of IAFF Local 4550 in Langley, B.C. gathered recently to celebrate the signing of their first collective agreement.

January 28, 2009 -- An IAFF local in British Columbia is celebrating the recent signing of a landmark first collective agreement that brings fire fighter salaries and working conditions into the modern era while securing efficient and effective fire protection 24/7 for the citizens of a fast-growing community.

The remarkable rise of Langley Township, BC Local 4550 is due to a potent mixture of hard work and dedication by the local executive board, grassroots community activism and timely political action, backed by the resources of the IAFF.

Langley Township, a burgeoning suburb of Vancouver on British Columbia's busy Lower Mainland, is a community of 100,000 people that just a few years ago was relying on a solely-volunteer fire department. The chief had even filed a 10-year plan for the department stating no full-time staff would be needed, despite the fact there was significant high-rise and other development looming on the horizon.

But the lack of movement on fire protection didn’t sit well with a number residents of Langley Township who were full-time fire fighters and IAFF members working in nearby cities. Together, they formed a group called Citizens For A Safer Township, or CFAST, and set about making full-time fire protection a priority.

By late 2005, just in time for municipal elections in British Columbia, CFAST had successfully made fire protection the top issue in Langley Township. As a result, seven of nine councillors elected had committed to four fire stations staffed full-time with four fire fighters each within four years. It was a major victory for public safety in Langley Township, and at the beginning of 2007, Langley Township Local 4550 was chartered, growing quickly to 22, then 42, and now 56 members who provide full-time fire protection.

Leading up to the November 2008 municipal election, fire protection was still an issue in Langley Township, but so was the fact that the township’s full-time fire fighters had gone almost two years without a contract and were poorly paid in comparison with IAFF fire fighters in other British Columbia communities.

The families of IAFF members sparred with councillors over the lack of a contract at election debates, and the incumbent mayor was challenged by the father of a member of District of North Vancouver Local 1183 over the “despicable” way he was treating fire fighters. Local 4550 organized an all-candidates meeting, where fire fighters and their families pressed mayoral candidates on fire protection issues.

The pressure paid off, and 11 days before the municipal election, mediation talks that were going nowhere suddenly achieved a landmark first collective agreement that provided an immediate 35 percent wage increase, $1.3 million in retroactive wages, sick leave benefits, basic and supplementary pension plans and employer-funded health, dental and life insurance. The agreement also provided paid time for union representation and seniority-based promotional and training protocols. The union’s solidarity and the groundwork it laid through political action also thwarted a last-minute attempt by the fire chief in December to cancel 16 hires planned for 2009.

“The day I earned the position of an IAFF fire fighter was one of the proudest moments of my professional life,” says Local 4550 President Andy Hewitson, thanking his wife and children for their patience and for tolerating many union meetings, some of them at their kitchen table.

“It’s been a whirlwind 27 months for Local 4550, but we’ve achieved heights few could have imagined during the infancy of our local… our members stood proud and strong as one to stay the course and see the contract we needed through to completion,” he says, adding that he is grateful for the IAFF’s assistance through it all, particularly the expertise of 6th District Vice President Lorne West.

West says the experience in Langley Township is proof that nothing’s impossible if the right ideas and resources are brought to bear in a situation, and if union members stand strong together. “To say the least, this is a very amazing first collective agreement and it’s a testament to the solidarity of a new local with a good grip on political action.”