Hi Andrew,
In Cambridge, we had an on-call system for the last few years up until this year that was worth the equivalent time in lieu of 10 hours for every week of on-call. (very similar to Oakville’s I believe). The Chief decided that he didn’t think it was important, so it was taken away. The Chief has been telling the crews that it is our fault that they have to sit on the scene causing lots of friction. It has been very hard to get investigators after hours and the crews are furious because they have been sitting on fire scenes , sometimes over the entire weekend. The chief has contracted out the services to surrounding municipalities on two occasions but I believe that the surrounding departments are catching on to what he is doing and I am certain that he will not be able to get free services from our friends under mutual aid anymore. There is a contracting out grievance in place. Needless to say, we are into a bit of a fight. I would suggest that Oakville’s contract for on call is a great model to strive for. After 15 years of loyal on call service it certainly has been nice to decide whether we want to attend an after hours fire scene or not!