Montreal police officers could obtain cumulative salary increases of approximately 11.4% over the next five years, under an agreement in principle with the City of Montreal which will be voted on this week. The Patroller Metropolis Bounty will also jump nearly 8% during this time.
This information, first revealed by Radio-Canada on Tuesday, was confirmed to The Press Tuesday by law enforcement sources who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
With salary feedback from 1er January 2022, the salary increases will correspond to approximately 2.25% in 2022, 2% in 2023, 2.15% in 2024, then 2.5% in 2025 and in 2026. Meanwhile, the increase in “ metropolitan bonus”, given to level 5 police forces serving more than one million people, will jump by 1.75%, then 3%, 0.85%, 0.5% and 1.5% respectively.
This agreement would also include a 1% bonus which is added in 2025 and 2026 for police officers working on daily patrol. The avowed objective is to encourage the latter to remain in post in the sectors considered to be the “warmest” of the metropolis.
Two electronic voting sessions are scheduled, this Wednesday and Thursday, so that the 4,500 members of the Brotherhood of Montreal Police Officers (FPPM) can vote on the details of this agreement. Further discussions may be held before an official signature, depending on this vote.
Recruitment objective
A sign that recruitment continues to be an internal issue, a measure would also be planned to better remunerate recruits who enter as a constable, by ensuring that they start directly at the same level as a permanent agent.
In 2023, a hired constable would therefore earn more than $70,000 annually, including the so-called “metropolitan bonus” among others. New police officers will also be guaranteed to get at least one weekend off every 35 days.
Last year, the SPVM had failed to increase its workforce. Despite 208 new hires in 2022, at the end of the year there were 27 fewer SPVM police officers than the previous year, due to 235 retirements and resignations. Montreal’s objective was to hire 282 additional police officers.
Note: the last version of the collective agreement was signed just before the 2017 elections, under the administration of Denis Coderre. Covering the period from 1er January 2015 to December 31, 2021, the document provided for an overall increase in police compensation of 20.75% over seven years.
This amount was then higher than the salary increase of 17.5% granted to police officers of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) for an employment contract of the same duration.