B.C. ambulance paramedics, dispatchers ratify new agreement

Two per cent wage hikes in each year of three-year contract: CUPE

B.C. ambulance paramedics, dispatchers ratify new agreement
Over the course of seven months at the bargaining table, the parties reached agreement on more than 80 proposals, said Eby, a number that represents progress in modernizing the collective agreement, says CUPE. Google Street View

B.C.’s 4,500 ambulance paramedics and emergency medical dispatchers voted to ratify a new three-year collective agreement on Sept. 30, signing off on a tentative agreement reached on July 19 between the Health Employers Association of B.C. (HEABC) and the Ambulance Paramedics and Ambulance Dispatchers Bargaining Association of B.C. (APADBA).

The new agreement is the first collectively bargained contract for B.C. ambulance paramedics and dispatchers since 2004. It contains general wage increases of two per cent each year, hundreds of new regular paramedic jobs across the province and several new health and safety initiatives, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

It also ensures compliance with the new requirements of the Employment Standards Act by the end of March 2022.  The new agreement will be applied retroactively from April 1, with many changes scheduled to be implemented immediately or in the coming months, says the union.

“This new collective agreement introduces perhaps the most significant changes our workplace has ever seen in a single period of bargaining,” says Cameron Eby, CUPE 873 (Ambulance Paramedics of B.C.) president.

Over the course of seven months at the bargaining table, the parties reached agreement on more than 80 proposals, said Eby, a number that represents progress in modernizing the collective agreement, says CUPE. 

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