The Sarnia Professional Firefighters Association is headed to interest arbitration with the City of Sarnia to settle a new collective agreement.
Corporate Manager of Human Resources Jim Crawford says the decision was made when both parties agreed they had reached an impasse.
"The parties completed four days of bargaining," says Crawford. "A large number of items have been agreed to, which are honoured by the parties. Despite the progress made to date there's still a significant number of monetary issues that remain outstanding."
Crawford expects it will be one year at the earliest before they get an interest arbitrator.
He says both parties can still discuss the contract until that time, and can always opt for conciliation instead.
The current contract for Sarnia's 121 professional firefighters expired December 31, 2016.
When that three year agreement was was ratified in December 2014, city firefighters went from working 12-hour shifts to 24-hour shifts in an effort to reduce overtime.