Ambulance services set to take job action CORNER BROOK CLIFF WELLS The Western Star

Bob Patten, chair and president of the Provincial Ambulance Operators Executive Board, sits in an emergency vehicle at Reliable Ambulance Tuesday. — Star photo by Geraldine Brophy

Bob Patten is hoping to stave off another wave of “blue flu.”

The chair and president of the Provincial Ambulance Operators Executive Board, which represents private ambulance operators in negotiations with the provincial government, says his industry suffered through a period in 2003 when staff called in sick as a form of job action to protest wages set by government.

Paramedics informed several of the province’s private ambulance owners that as of 8 a.m. today they would not provide non-emergency services like transportation. Late Tuesday afternoon, the job action was postponed.

The labour trouble comes in response to the inability of the operators and the province to agree to terms. Paramedics and emergency medical responders have been without a contract since March 31, 2008.

After a year and a half with no raise and no end in sight, paramedics feel the action is necessary.

Patten understands the frustration.

Tuesday afternoon he asked for a couple of more days to get the province to understand the urgency of the situation. He got it.

“Our contract has been up for a year and a half,” Patten said. “All the other unions and associations in government’s employ have been dealt with and they’ve got their contracts and their retro(active pay) and raises and so on, and we’re still trying to get a contract.”

He worked from 6 a.m. Tuesday to get a resolution to the situation and get some time, but he’s not hopeful the situation will be resolved soon.

He met with Treasury Board Oct. 20 and he was expecting an answer one a tentative deal within a couple of days. Monday evening he was told the deal was turned down.
“It put us back to Square 1 after a year and a half, so it’s quite frustrating,” he said. “Then I got a call from the paramedics saying they’re hitting the streets. I had to go deal with that.
“I’m hoping we’re going to get some favourable responses in the next couple of days.”

Iris Park and Kirk Yetman, paramedics at Reliable Ambulance in Corner Brook, were planning a protest at Western Memorial Regional Hospital at 8 a.m. to draw awareness to the problem of the lack of a contract, however they have opted to wait until Friday to make a final decision whether to picket or not.

“This is a last resort for us,” Yetman said. “If we don’t soon do something this could go on for another six months.”

Park said the operators and government have been going back and forth for 18-months and it’s time a deal was done and signed.

“Our problem is we’re not getting what we’re supposed to be getting and we want our raise,” Park said.

She said there’s no union, so it’s difficult for the employees to voice their concerns.
It’s a continuous battle trying to get everything worked out and the paramedics and emergency medical responders are caught in the middle, she said.

“One employer informed his staff if they walked off the job, they could find jobs elsewhere,” she said. “Obviously we’re not getting all the support, but we’re getting support from a majority of services.”

Steve MacKenzie is president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Independent Private Ambulance Operators Association and runs MacKenzie Ambulance Service in Port aux Basques.

He said several of his employees have brought the possibility of action to his attention.
He sympathizes with the employees, but he’s frustrated by the process. He said government has put an additional $6 million in the last two years into ambulance service in the St. John’s area, but no extra funds outside the overpass.

“We’ve been trying to deal in good faith with the government, but for some reason government doesn’t seem to want to deal in good faith,” MacKenzie said. “We’ve come very close to a contract a number of times and every time we get close to what we feel would be a reaonable settlement, the government comes up with other issues, putting clauses in, taking clauses out of the contract language as well as the financial package.
“We’re trying to deal with it, still trying to deal with it and the employees are tired after 19 or 20 months of not having a contract. They want the additional monies that may be available to them and they’re getting impatient.”