WINNIPEG

City council votes to renegotiate wage deal for firefighter union boss

Published Thursday, June 21, 2018 5:33PM CST

Right now, the city covers 60 per cent of United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest's $116,000 annual salary. (File image of Alex Forrest)

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Winnipeg City Council wants taxpayers to stop paying a union boss' salary.

Council voted in favour of a Brian Bowman directive for city officials to renegotiate the wage deal for United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest.

Last week Bowman says he found a loophole in the contract with the UFFW which permitted the renegotiations.

Since 2014 the city has covered 60 per cent of Forrest's salary and benefits, before that it was 100 per cent.

Forrest has said a 2014 contract is clear -- his wages are to be compensated as long as he's UFFW president.

In a statement Thursday, he said his position hasn’t changed, but he is open to trying to figuring out a solution if the city wants to reopen the contract, as “cooperation has been the hallmark of our positive labour management relationship for over a decade.”