ESTEVAN — The Estevan Police Association (EPA) and the Estevan board of police commissioners have signed off on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
Mayor Tony Sernick, who is also the chairman of the police board, said the deal is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025, and will expire at the end of 2027. He added it includes a four per cent wage increase each year, with this year’s pay hike again retroactive to the start of 2025.
The new deal, which was signed Aug. 14, also includes tweaks for benefits.
Sernick noted a consultant was brought in for this latest negotiation because some of the wording in the old CBA was dated. The terms in the new contract were brought up to date, with approval from the board and the EPA.
“We brought the whole document up to 2025 standards,” said Sernick, who believes half of the negotiating time was dedicated to wording.
This marked the first time Sernick was part of negotiations with the police board. The previous CBA was negotiated before Sernick joined the police board in 2023 as a councillor.
“There was a few of us in the room like that, so that’s another reason why we felt it was nice to have a consultant there just to run the show, and she had a lot of experience in this stuff. It helped a lot,” said Sernick.
The deal was reached after two days of talks in June that lasted six or seven hours each day. The wage increase was the final piece of the puzzle, he said.
“The two sides weren’t that far apart. There were compromises on both sides, and we came together with those numbers, and everybody seems to be happy with it.”
He was pleased with how the negotiations progressed this time. The EPA was professional throughout the process, he said, and Sernick is happy to have a deal reached before the negotiations drag out, which has happened in the past.
“It’s good that the city and the association can put all of this on the backburner for three years, and get ready for the end of 2027,” said Sernick.
He said he hopes the two sides can reach their next agreement prior to the next civic election in 2028.
The Estevan Police Association could not be reached for comment.
The city’s agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 726, which represents the city’s unionized staff members, expires at the end of this year, and Sernick expects negotiations will begin in the fall.
