Labour Relations
Ambulance paramedics, emergency medical call-takers, and emergency medical dispatchers are members of the Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia (APBC) Local 873 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Provincial headquarters and administrative staff are members of the British Columbia Government Employees Union (BCGEU).
The collective agreement between the APBC and the EHSC expired on March 31, 2009. A strike vote was taken prior to the expiry of the prior collective agreement and the result was 97% of APBC in favour of a strike. Despite being legally on strike, the essential services order (ESO) handed down by the Labour Relations Board (LRB) stated that 100% of APBC's work was considered essential, and therefore could not withdraw any frontline work.
On November 2, 2009, the Minister of Health Services tabled Bill 21, titled the Ambulance Services Collective Agreement Act. Bill 21 was back-to-work legislation for APBC. This bill came under intense scrutiny, and is considered to be unprecedented in Canadian labour history. The reason for this is because the government began tabling the legislation while APBC was in the process of conducting a vote on the government's latest contract offer. The terms of Bill 21 were virtually the same as the contract offer being voted on.
The government's reasoning behind enacting Bill 21 was the H1N1 influenza pandemic, stating they needed all branches of the healthcare service at 100% efficiency and operational levels. The government also accused paramedics of not working mandatory overtime shifts despite the terms of the ESO. The other reason provided was that the government had concern over BCAS managers required to work upward of 80 hours per week during the strike due to striking paramedics failing to carry out basic paperwork duties.
Further complicating the legislation is a leaked memo from the Medical Director of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) sent to the government. In the memo is the following section: "VANOC Medical Services (and thus the IOC) requires definitive confirmation by Oct 1 2009 that all required ambulance services will be provided as planned. These services include the ability to engage the VCs and BCAS members in full venue planning as soon as possible. This confirmation must also include a guarantee that no services during the Games will be disrupted or reduced from what has been planned. If we are unable to obtain that guarantee (through either settlement of the strike or a legislated "detente" for the Games), then VANOC will be required to initiate contigency plans to avoid cancellation of the Games."
On November 7, 2009, the Ambulance Services Collective Agreement Act achieved Royal Assent, after an overnight debate until the Act was passed. The terms of the Act specify a 3% general wage increase for APBC members, retroactive to April 1, 2009. None of the operational issues raised by APBC (staffing shortages, rural deployment issues, recruitment and retention challenges, longer response times) are addressed in this Act. The Act will expire on March 31, 2010, shortly after the conclusion of the Olympics. APBC and BCAS will be in a position to re-open negotiations for the next collective agreement in December 2009, a few weeks after being handed the legislated contract.
Read more about this topic: British Columbia Ambulance Service
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