Talks between the County of Essex and the union representing local paramedics have stalled.
The county and CUPE Local 2974 representatives met at the table on Wednesday afternoon at the Essex County Civic Centre to see if a deal could be reached.
Simultaneously, a rally supporting Essex-Windsor EMS was being held outside of the building where nearly 200 people were in attendance. Those at the rally were current paramedics, retired paramedics, the family of local EMS staff, and community members.
CUPE Local 2974 President James Jovanovic stated that talks had stalled and the union walked away from the table. The conciliator spoke with both sides, encouraging them to continue talks. However, a deal was still not reached.
While the union was in a legal strike position as of August 8, Jovanovic stated Wednesday that the county is asking for a reconsideration of the Essential Ambulance Services Agreement that was previously approved by the Ontario Labour Relations Board, which would have seen a 20 per cent reduction of staff. He says because of that, EMS cannot walk off the job until the Labour Board responds.
Jovanovic says the two sides had another date to meet on August 10 but says the employer has indicated they will not be there.
He says the reconsideration will stall the strike.
“They’ve applied to the Labour Board for a reconsideration despite the Labour Board’s ruling being very clear-cut. So that application for reconsideration is going to draw that out, and we don’t know exactly when that will be finalized... hopefully within the next couple weeks, and then we’ve advised them that we intend on moving forward.”
While he couldn’t get into specifics, Jovanovic says the employer has also backtracked on items that they previously agreed to.
“The employer reversed course on what was otherwise agreeable to them, and it was one of the key top two provisions in the negotiations. So they’ve been agreeable to it every step of the way since day two of negotiations, and now they just advised us that they’ve reversed course and are no longer agreeable to it.”
Krista Hillier, a local paramedic for 19-years, says they just want to be treated equally.
“We’re looking to just be at par with everybody else and feel respected by our employer, and just do our job that we love to do. We don’t want to be doing this; we don’t want to go on strike, but you have to take a stand at some point in your life, and now is the time.”
Hillier says they’re downstaffed every day.
“When I got hired 19 years ago, you were lucky to get a job because it was so strict and they only had a very few selection, and then it was years before you got another one. Now we’re hiring every couple of months, it seems like, because people are coming and they’re leaving because our benefits, our pay, the workload is insane - we’re the highest call volume per capita... we just can’t keep up with that.”
Darlene Dessario, a retired ER Trauma Nurse Paramedic, says local EMS deserve better.
“They need to pay our guys and our girls what they’re worth, they need proper pay, they need competitive wages with the police and fire, they need an open up to all kinds of medical services themselves to keep them healthy in the field.”
Dessario says local paramedics are being hung out to dry.
“Healthy and well-kept paramedics equals a healthy and a well-kept community. And they’ve got to stop hanging our medics out to dry. It’s ridiculous. This has gone on for too long, and they need a contract; they need a fair and decent wage.”
CUPE Local 2974 represents about 340 paramedics who have been without a collective agreement since conciliation ended on May 8th.
In a statement provided by the County of Essex, they say: “Out of respect for the collective bargaining process, the County of Essex has no comment at this time.”