It’s definitely looking rosier for the Burnaby firefighters’ chartable ball this year.
After the city pulled its in-kind funding for flowers for the April event, an anonymous group has stepped up with a donation, according to the firefighters’ union.
Rob Lamoureux, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 323, explained that a “concerned” group came forward offering a $3,000 donation after reading about the issue in last Friday’s Burnaby NOW.
“It was extremely helpful,” he said of the new donation.
The firefighters’ union blames the contract dispute for the city pulling its funding for the charitable ball this year.
The city had sponsored the flower arrangement for years, but the union suggested a recent grievance settlement with the union is behind the change.
Last month, the city and union settled a grievance over a supplemental pension pay allowance, which will see the municipality start paying the allowance for 2016, but firefighters won’t get the retro pay for 2015.
The city stopped the payments at the end of 2014.
The cost works out to about $140,000 to $150,000 a year.
The charitable ball, which is being held this year on April 16, brings in about $75,000 for the Burnaby Firefighters’ Charitable Society’s nutritional snack program for schools.
Lamoureux said even if the event didn’t receive an anonymous donation, it would still have gone forward as planned.
“We’re thankful these concerned citizens stepped up and are very supportive of what we do as firefighters, and more importantly, they’re very supportive of our charitable society and see the good work we can do for everybody,” he said.
The City of Burnaby and the firefighters’ union have been trying to negotiate a new contract for more than a year and has arbitration set for July of this year.
The union has been without a contract since 2011.
