Saying the chair of the Toronto Police Service Board has “breached our confidentiality agreement” and spread “false statements” during contract negotiations, the union representing Toronto Police officers has called for her resignation.
“We have no confidence in her ability to continue leading the Police Service Board,” Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell told his 8,000 members in a communication memo sent out Wednesday night.
It all stems from a letter chair Ann Morgan sent to city council last week on the status of the negotiations between the oversight board and the union.
“Chair Morgan has failed in her duty as the Board’s lead negotiator, misled city council, and breached our confidentiality agreement,” said Campbell.
Morgan, an appointee of the Doug Ford government to the seven-member board which has four city appointees and three from the province, has so far not commented.
Nor have provincial appointee vice chair Lisa Kostakis, city councillors Lily Cheng, Amber Morley or Shelley Carroll, city appointee Chris Brillinger, or provincial appointee Nick Migliore.
At a time when it is no secret that relations between police and the current mayor are not the best, Campbell is not holding back.
“It’s truly unfortunate that our relationship with the Police Service Board has deteriorated to this point but chair Morgan has left us no choice,” Campbell told the Toronto Sun.
“After breaking our confidentiality and misleading city council, we have lost all confidence in her ability to not just continue as lead negotiator but in the role of chair of the Police Service Board. We have asked her to step aside, and we eagerly await her response.”
The Toronto Sun will print her position if she responds to a request.
In her letter. provided to the Sun by a member of city council who received it, she said, “On the last day of mediation, the Board’s Bargaining Committee proposed the following wage increases, which would have made TPS Uniform Members the highest paid in Ontario for two of the three years of the contract: 2024: 4.75%, 2025: 4.0%, 2026: 3.0%” and this means “the current base salary of a First-Class Police Constable is $109,338 per year” which would increase to “$122,686 per year by 2026.”
Morgan, a former Crown attorney who is not anti-police nor in the defund the police movement that some leftists politicians are believed to be, told council that “since that proposal was made, the Peel Regional Police Service (Peel) and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have settled agreements that exceed that of Barrie, both in wages, and in non-wage items” and “the TPA is now seeking to duplicate or exceed other items from the Peel and OPP settlements, including retention pay for civilian members of the Service, significant benefit and retiree benefit increases, and special pay and allowances for several additional categories of uniform and civilian Members. The cost of the TPA’s proposals for non-wage items amounts to the equivalent of an additional 2.5% wage increase.”
She added “the board cannot agree with the additional demands being made by the TPA, as this would come at the expense of investing in new officers and improving service levels” and have “a negative impact on the wellbeing of our service members.”
Saying these assertions are “false,” Campbell told members that “the chair’s letter violates the confidential agreement we had in place with the board throughout the bargaining process — and at mediation — and also includes several false statements” and “attempts to set up an illogical and wrongheaded either/or choice, between the board’s commitment to hire more members and the need to pay our members what they are worth.”
Officers also feel it’s not safe for them or their dogs and horses on the street anymore and there needs to be more respect and a better understanding of how dangerous it is for them in 2024 — as highlighted by Chief Myron Demkiw who reminded that more than 637 of his men and women had been hurt on duty at the point of the October shooting of an officer investigating a robbery.
The battle lines have been drawn. It’s a political football for Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford as well as the taxpayers. There was a lot of bad blood spilled between the TPA and Chow, who officers felt was not supportive enough when the member was shot last month and attended a “social event” instead of going to hospital.
But this fight seems to be directed more toward a Ford loyalist who leads a Chow-dominated board. From a crime reporter perspective it’s not hard to argue Toronto Police should be the highest paid officers in Ontario and be given similar consideration as other public sector unions — even if the decision makers were not supportive in election bids.
This was not lost on Councillor Brad Bradford, who ran against Chow for mayor.
“It’s interesting that they are punting the cops’ arbitration, but we’re very happy to sit down and deal with ATU 113, the transit union that backed her to the max during her campaign, and was awarded the richest most lucrative, collective bargaining agreement in transit history,” he said.
While they highlighted some of their core issues, the TPA didn’t back any candidate for mayor or premier in the last elections.
But feeling like they have been undermined in the negotiations, they are speaking loudly now.