On Feb. 2, after press deadlines, the union representing B.C. paramedics and emergency dispatchers was set to hold a strike vote.
Contract talks with the provincial government appear to have broken down in late November, and things are looking increasingly like the union will launch some kind of job action.
As essential workers, they won’t be off the job. But they may protest in other ways. Back in 2009, during a lengthy strike action, paramedics plastered their ambulances with messages about the job action, and sometimes worked in civilian clothes.
That strike ended with the provincial government ordering them back to work, with a new contract forced on them.
This action should not end the same way. Our emergency responders deserve better than that.
There are some usual issues in this contract dispute, including wages. But paramedics are also facing strains as they try to serve rural and remote areas of B.C., especially in districts where ER closures are making their jobs even more difficult.
They’re also asking for more mental health support, as many of their members suffer from burnout or require counselling.
Paramedics and other first responders have been on the front lines of the fentanyl overdose crisis in B.C. for a full decade now.
The nature of their job involves long shifts – many work 12-hour shifts on a four-on, four-off schedule, like nurses – and many hours inside an ambulance, driving or tending to patients.
The job can involve seeing deeply traumatic scenes, including serious injuries and deaths. Improved support for mental health is key among the union’s demands.
Physically, it’s not that easy either. People don’t always have heart attacks or suffer injuries in convenient places. People need medical help on construction sites, hiking trails and steep ravines, or in stuck elevators.
Paramedics, in other words, have to deal with the psychological toll of dealing with people suffering traumatic injuries and medical crises, they have to learn to drive like police or firefighters when they’re responding to a call or rushing someone to hospital, and they have to risk wrenching their backs getting a patient and stretcher down a flight of stairs.
All of these things add up to one of the most stressful jobs you can have in B.C., up there with police, firefighters, and ICU and ER nurses.
Giving paramedics and dispatchers better pay and working conditions is the right thing to do, but it’s also the smart thing to do.
Due to the shortage of paramedics, local firefighters have picked up the slack on emergency medical calls – which means a downloading of costs from the province to the municipal level.
Creating a fairly-compensated, well-supported team of first medical responders keeps all British Columbians safer and healthier.
– M.C.