The Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners and Moose Jaw Police Association have signed a new three-year collective bargaining agreement.

The new CBA is effective January of 2021 to December of 2023.

The deal, signed December 20, will see police receive an increase of 6.65 per cent over the three years. The first increase will take place retroactively, effective January of 2021 at 1.1 per cent. The July 2021 increase was at .7 per cent. The increase in January of 2022 is 1.1 per cent, and July 2022 is .85 per cent. January of 2023 will see an increase of 2.9 per cent. July 2023 will see a 1.5 per cent reallocation of a benefit, concerning wages from guaranteed statutory holidays that police received in the previous contract. In the new agreement, police will give up five guaranteed stat days in exchange for 1.5 per cent, resulting in a zero net gain.

"There didn't seem to be a lot of back and forth on the same issue," said Dawn Luhning, board chair with the Board of Police Commissioners. "It seemed to maybe come back once, maybe twice and then it was over with. It wasn't like there were any acrimonious issues or combative issues. It was a very smooth process."

Both parties were happy to see the deal signed without going to arbitration, which reduced the cost and maintained goodwill between the two groups.

"It may have taken us a long period of time to settle this contract but the meetings we had with the Board and the Board's representatives, they went very smoothly," added Staff Sergeant Taylor Elder, president of the Moose Jaw Police Association. "We didn't spend a whole lot of time at the table. The time we did spend at the table was very beneficial and productive. We both feel this is a fair deal and we're both happy with the outcome of this contract."

One of the main concerns for the Police Association was to close the wage gap between officers in Regina and Moose Jaw.