Local paramedics want the same bargaining rights as fire and police departments.

Following a provincial initiative, local paramedics are asking for residents’ signatures in support of an initiative that will shift ambulance service into the same classification as fire and police departments.

Under current provincial legislation, BC Ambulance paramedics and dispatchers are combined with hospital employees like janitors and cooks (nurses are separate) when dealing with contract negotiations and job conditions. The proposal will move ambulance services into the same bargaining unit as other emergency services in the province.

By creating the Ambulance, Fire and Police Services Collective Bargaining Act, paramedics would be given the same collective bargaining rights as their counterparts. Paramedics would forfeit their right to strike and the province would no longer have the ability to lockout ambulance employees during an impasse in negotiations. An independent arbitrator, who would make biding decisions, would settle any labour disputes.

The initiative, which is being spearheaded by a group called Your Province Your Paramedics, is following the same format as the HST petition that swept across the province in 2011. Paramedics need the signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in every riding. If the threshold is met before the deadline on April 9, the provincial government can automatically enact the change or it can choose to send the matter to a general referendum.

With a provincial election coming in May, paramedics feel that this is an opportune time to garner support.

“The needs of ambulance employees are quite unique and dissimilar to those working exclusively in hospital facilities. We are simply asking to be put into a category with our peers,” said Bram Rossman, a Primary Care Paramedic who works out of the BC Ambulance Service’s Station 411 in Invermere.

Submitted

Article Share