The city of Lachute and the l’Association des pompiers et pompières de Lachute (APPL) have reached their first collective agreement and it significantly expands the role of the fire department.
The five-year agreement, signed on, will allow for the reorganization of the fire department and enhancement of service. On-call hours in the fire station will increase from 42.5 hours to 95 hours per week. The city will create eight new firefighter positions to fill the extra on-call hours in the station. Effective December 10, firefighters will be on-call at the station from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekends. The city believes the increased presence of firefighters at the station will improve its fire risk coverage plan by 90 per cent. When firefighters are already at the station, it takes 90 seconds from when the call is received for the first vehicle to leave the station. When only part-time firefighters are responding, it takes eight to 12 minutes.
“The Association des pompiers et pompières de Lachute is proud to have negotiated the first collective agreement. Service members gain greater employment stability, access to benefits, an increase in station duty, and a salary that reflects the current economic context. All of the conditions of this collective agreement will allow firefighters to participate in improving service to citizens of Lachute,” said APPL President Martin Lachance.
“Adding station hours allows us not only to improve the speed and efficiency of our firefighters in situations where every minute counts, but also to create better working conditions, which makes us, once again, an employer attractive to new generations of firefighters,” said Lachute Mayor Bernard Bigras-Denis.
