Bill 21 ‘like a slap in the face’ – paramedics
Steve Bremer talks to the media during a news conference this week.
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Updated: November 06, 2009 1:08 PM
Frustrated local paramedics are asking if Bill 21 —which legislates an end to the paramedics’ seven-month strike — is based on the pressures of dealing with the H1N1 influenza, why haven’t they been given the vaccine?
Steve Bremer, Bill Coltart and Gavin Hendry expressed their frustrations during a news conference Wednesday morning, two days after Health Services Minister Kevin Falcon introduced Bill 21, the Ambulance Service Collective Agreement Act.
“Bill 21 was introduced by Health Minister Kevin Falcon, he stated, by the H1N1 crisis, yet over the last week, our members have been turned away (from vaccination clinics),” said Coltart. “It’s very frustrating. We are trying to protect ourselves and our families.”
Paramedics have been told they are not front-line hospital emergency workers and are not considered high-risk, explained Coltart.
“It’s like a slap in the face,” he said.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) is following provincial policy from the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport when it comes to immunizing paramedics, explained spokesperson Shannon Marshall.
“They are being immunized,” she said late Wednesday afternoon. “I believe that was a late change (Tuesday). We are immunizing ambulance paramedics according to provincial policy.”
Paramedics are also concerned about properly disinfecting their uniforms and their ambulances.
Paramedics in the Courtenay station spent $600 to buy first aid kits that are waterproof and easy to decontaminate, and they haven’t heard from the B.C. Ambulance Service despite repeated requests for commercial laundering and garment bags for their uniforms, which they’ve been told not to bring home, noted Coltart.
Bremer and Coltart have advised their members they have a right to refuse unsafe work under Section Three of the WorkSafe BC Act.
Falcon introduced the Ambulance Service Collective Agreement Act legislating an end to the strike by CUPE 873 Monday.
“With the H1N1 pandemic impacting the acute care system and winter and the holiday season fast approaching, the public needs certainty that they’ll have the care they need in an emergency,” he said in a press release. “The decision to introduce this legislation was a difficult one and certainly not one that we take lightly. But it was clear that after seven months of failed attempts to reach an agreement and with no hope for a negotiated settlement in sight, we had to act.”
The settlement outlined in the Ambulance Service Collective Agreement Act reflects the latest offer made to the union in September, according to the minister.
The one-year deal is retroactive to April 1 and includes a competitive compensation increase of three per cent, in line with wage increases for other public sector workers in 2009, noted the release.
Bill 21 was introduced as paramedics are voting on the latest contract offer from the BCAS. The mail-in votes were being counted Friday.
Bremer feels Bill 21 has more to do with the Olympics than H1N1.
“This is totally about not having any labour disruptions during the big party Gordon Campbell, Kevin Falcon and the rest of the Liberals are spending billions of dollars on,” he said. “We’re frustrated they’re saying athletes who come to the Olympics deserve better ambulance service than B.C. taxpayers.”
“We have to have ambulances for everyone in the province, not just the Olympics,” added Hendry.
Bremer hopes everyone in the province and in the Valley will visit www.saveourparamedics.com and phone, e-mail or write Falcon, Campbell and McRae and demand they say no to Bill 21.
writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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