B.C. paramedics' labour woes go to inquiry
Last Updated: Thursday, November 19, 2009 | 7:33 PM PT
The Canadian Press
B.C. paramedics, in a protest earlier this year, have not decided if they will co-operate with an inquiry into the paramedics' labour relationship with their management, the B.C. Ambulance Service. (CBC)The B.C. government has named a former high-ranking public servant to head an industrial inquiry commission into the troubled labour relations structure of paramedics the province legislated back to work earlier this month.
The government promised the commission after passing legislation imposing a contract on B.C.'s 3,500 paramedics to end a seven-month dispute.
The contract gives paramedics a three-per-cent wage increase over one year.
Labour Minister Murray Coell says in addition to the bargaining structure, former deputy finance minister Chris Trumpy will examine staff recruitment, training, retention and workload, as well as occupational health and safety issues.
B.C. paramedics lowest paid, says union
He will also compare paramedics' salaries and the deployment of ambulance services in B.C. to other provinces, and report by Jan. 15.
According to CUPE Local 873, which represents the paramedics, B.C.'s ambulance workers are the lowest paid in the country, with an average wage of $28 per hour, compared to $31.25 in Calgary and $43.27 in Edmonton.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees had said it wouldn't take part in the inquiry because there wouldn't be enough time to address all the issues under the original time frame, which called for a report by Dec. 15.
Coell says he's encouraging the union to reconsider the decision and join the process to help fix what he calls a broken collective bargaining structure.
