Firefighters union head admits receiving two salaries

For roughly 20 years, Winnipeg firefighters union president Alex Forrest has been drawing two paycheques for his work: one footed by the city’s taxpayers; the other — a top-up matching the partial wage of a city firefighter — from the labour organization he leads.
And the arrangement goes back well past 1997. As per Alex Forrest, The city was picking up the tab for the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president’s salary “for decades” prior to his election as its leader. Forrest has justified collecting two paycheques, saying combining both salaries represents the value he brings to his firefighters and the city.
“That’s what a union president would normally get paid. That is the rate of a union leadership for a union of my size. With the combination of the two, I’m still probably the lowest-paid union president in the city. And I’m one of the lowest-paid union presidents of major fire departments in Canada,” Forrest is reported to have said.
Between 1997 and February 2014, the City of Winnipeg paid his salary, benefits and pension payments, while Forrest also collected an additional paycheque from his union for 34 per cent of the salary of a first-class firefighter. Since a renegotiation in March 2014, the city has paid 60 per cent of his salary while the UFFW covers the rest. Forrest, who holds the rank of captain, continues to collect a paycheque from his union.