Arbitrator declines employer's request to eliminate firefighters' lifetime retiree benefits
March 03, 2026
An interest arbitrator has declined the City of Vaughan’s attempt to eliminate lifetime retiree benefits for firefighters, rejecting arguments from the City that the lifetime benefits should be eliminated due to cost considerations and sector norms.
The City and the Vaughan Professional Fire Fighters’ Association, International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 1595 (the “Association”) were parties to a collective agreement that expired on December 31, 2023. The City and the Association entered into the interest arbitration process to resolve outstanding issues relating to collective bargaining, including with respect to retiree benefits, since firefighting is an essential service and there is no right to strike or lockout.
The City sought to eliminate lifetime retiree benefits and replace them with a health care spending account for future employees, citing cost considerations and sector norms. The Association opposed the City’s proposed changes, arguing that lifetime retiree benefits were a longstanding negotiated entitlement and should not be removed when the employer was offering “nothing in return”.
After considering prior arbitral decisions regarding the benefits of employees in comparable circumstances, the arbitrator declined the City’s request to remove lifetime retiree benefits. Though the arbitrator noted that such benefits were not typical for employees in the fire services sector, their elimination in other cases had occurred through voluntary bargaining where members gained “something of significance” or in circumstances where there was a clear need to align firefighter’s benefits with closely related groups. Those factors were not present here and, accordingly, the arbitrator declined to eliminate lifetime retiree benefits.
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