Revelstoke Council show support for Amnbulance Paramedics of BC
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Submitted by tmrinas on Tue, 12/05/2009 - 7:34pm.
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Posts: 126
Joined: 01-08-2007 |
Council supports striking paramedics Revelstoke city council passed a motion calling for the provincial government, which oversees the BC Ambulance Service, to return to the bargaining table with an independent third-party mediator in order to resolve the ongoing paramedics strike which started on April 1. The move was in response to a letter requesting the motion from CUPE 873 Provincial President John Strohmaier. Councillor Peter Frew said he feels that the ambulance service is an important service along with other first responder services. He felt an independent mediator could help find some common ground. Councillor Halberstadt, who is a paramedic, said in her experience the community has shown “overwhelming” support for the striking paramedics’ cause, saying they have collected over 200 signed postcards supporting their position in about five hours’ worth of public campaigning. Mayor Raven cautioned about getting involved in others’ issues, but said he would vote in support of the motion. |
Joined: 12-05-2006
In BC Ambulance service there are full time Paramedics and part time paramedics and today I would like to talk about part time paramedics.
BC Ambulance paramedics are required to pass licensing exams and also required to maintain their license annually by having a minimum number of patient contacts and a certain number of education credits a year.
I am a part time primary care paramedic and have the same qualifications as a full time primary care paramedic. I live on Vancouver Island and am able to obtain full time employment in the area where I live only if I agree to first work for a few years in particular urban areas such as Vancouver...then if a full time position comes up in my area I could apply for it. Because this would mean a major upheaval for myself and family I have stayed as a Part time Paramedic.
As a part time paramedic I have to put in availability for a minimum of eight shifts per month to maintain my seniority. Many of my colleagues put in availability for 40 shifts or more a month in hopes of getting 20 shifts as the Paramedic work is their main employ. I had to wait six years to apply for extended benefits and this does not include short term disability. Only Full time Paramedics get short term disability. To qualify for the extended benefits I need to have worked a minimum of 96 shifts in the previous year. I recently had to take time off work for surgery and discovered that I had to go on medical employment insurance and that I would lose seniority for every month I was off.
There are different shift allocations for the various ambulances and most part time paramedics are scheduled for Kilo shifts which pay $2 an hour to standby with a pager.
Some paramedics work a Fox shift which means they have a 90 second shoot time (same as full time Paramedics) and are paid $10 per hour standby. Once a call comes in the clock starts for the Part time Paramedic to be paid their regular wage.
My daughter is currently taking her primary care paramedic course. Being a Paramedic is a wonderfully challenging career.
To start she has to work in a more rural station for six months which means driving to and from this outer area.
The call volume for the outer areas is lower so there will be many times that she will need to drive out to the area to standby for $2 an hour. If she does not recieve a call out then her total standby pay would be $24 for 12 hours of standing by...hardly enough to pay for her gas there and back.
Rural BC is being negatively impacted by the current system for BC Ambulance. If BC Ambulance Service is concerned about retaining their current paramedics and recruiting new paramedics it needs to provide better labour standards.
They are fortunate that most paramedics love their work.
Kathryn Ridley
Campbell River