On September 27th, the emergency workers that work for Ambulances Radisson of Huntingdon met with the union’s Table mobile de negociations to discuss any concerns regarding current contract negotiations between workers and their employers (in this case, Groupe Radisson)—the likes of which began two years ago.
Two union representatives, David Gagnon, who serves as the vice-president of the Fraternité des travailleurs et travailleuses du préhospitalier du Québec of the section 592 and Montérégie’s regional president Frédéric Fortin were present to address the workers, who have expressed the need for change within their current work environment, due to issues with inefficiency—not to mention overworked employees, some of which are on call 24/7.
Unlike the emergency workers in Montreal and Laval, the emergency workers and vehicles that serve the area are privately owned, although these businesses are partially funded by the Quebec government. Serving Huntingdon, Godmanchester, Hinchinbrooke, half of Dewittville, Sainte-Barbe, Saint-Anicet and Dundee, the station has six full-time workers and only two ambulances for the entire area. It is worth noting that two ambulances are available from 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., while only one is available after 5:00 P.M.
The afore mentioned problems become evident when one takes a look at the 7/14, a shift that requires the workers to be no more than five minutes from the station at any given time—24 hours a day for a week, which requires the workers to be stationary for a little more than 11 hours a day. Meaning that even if the workers are at “home”, they still have to be at the station and in the ambulance within nine minutes—which makes it difficult to have any semblance of a regular life. “Someone should really be here at the station eight hours a day,” says Wendy Odermatt, who has served as an emergency worker in the area since 1989. She currently works the 7/14. Especially alarming is the span of territory that these workers are expected to cover in a short time—in an emergency, those extra nine minutes can make the difference between life and death. “In the case of a cardiac arrest, every minute without manoeuvres, your chance of surviving goes down 7-10%,” explains emergency worker Jim Robson. There are First Responders in the area, but they can’t address all emergency needs, and in some cases, lack the equipment to do so.
The importance of efficient funding is brought again to the surface when one stops to consider that there are only two ambulances during peak hours—and at any given time, one of the ambulances might be called to Valleyfield to assist, leaving one ambulance, who may or may not be on call, which can make the wait for an ambulance anywhere from ten to forty minutes—if not longer.
Privately owning emergency centres makes for a lucrative business for the employers, especially as they are given a generous budget from the Quebec government to adequately supply emergency centres and workers with equipment. It is ultimately up to companies, like Groupe Radisson (Ambulances Radisson), to decide how the money is spent. Of course, there are alternatives to being privately owned, such a co-ops. But this isn’t an ideal solution, as it puts a large chunk of money in the worker’s pockets without necessarily benefiting the tax-paying population. Being emergency workers, most employees tend to hold a heavy sense of responsibility for the people in the area, which puts going on strike off the table. Amongst the employees, the general thought seemed to be that they desperately needed money supplied by the Quebec government to go into adequately funding the emergency centres—not into the pockets of their employers.
As of September 29th, 2016, emergency workers did not have any information in regards to when they could expect an end to contract negotiations.
