Winnipeg's police union made its case for a significant wage increase, which it says is needed to keep more experienced officers in an increasingly dangerous job.
The Winnipeg Police Association is seeking a 5.75 per cent wage increase a year for two years, while the City of Winnipeg is offering increases of 3.47 and three per cent during that same period.
The association, which presented its case to an arbitration panel on Wednesday, argues that its demand is reasonable given the growing amount of violence officers are facing.
"Winnipeg's a very dangerous place to work," said president Mike Sutherland, citing last year's record number of homicides and increases in the number of gun calls and assaults on police officers.
The association also argues that 70 per cent of officers being dispatched to emergencies have three years' experience or less, while more senior officers are retiring and taking on new jobs.
Offering incentives would keep experienced officers on the job longer, he said.
"The difficulty that we face now is that we have a lot of junior members who do their very, very best, but sometimes there's no match for experience," he said.
Sutherland said some of what the police association wants to tell the arbitration panel is so sensitive that they cannot state it publicly, or else organized crime could end up with inside information.
The panel may have to go behind closed doors at some point to hear what the association wants to say, in order to protect police and the public, he said.
"We would like to be able to talk about some of those things in order to emphasize the reality of what policing is in Winnipeg. Unfortunately, we also have to be responsible," Sutherland said.
The Winnipeg Police Association represents about 1,700 people, both police officers and civilian employees. They've been without a contract since the last one expired in December 2010.
The arbitration panel's recommendation will be binding because police officers do not have the right to strike.
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