Paramedics Take To The Streets To Protest

Jeff Green | May 15, 2013

Members of OPSEU local 462 braved some windy, cool weather on Saturday morning, gathering on the busy corner of Princess Street and Gardiners Road for an information picket about an ambulance service cut that is slated to take effect in the City of Kingston on May 20.

A 12-hour ambulance shift, and four full-time unionized paramedic positions, will be eliminated as of that day.

The full-time paramedic positions will revert to part-time. The shift, which runs out of the Palace Road ambulance base, is one of three ambulances that run out of that base in the daytime, while two ambulances run overnight.

Shauna Dunn, shop steward with the local, said, “We are here to talk to people about the effect of this on service to Kingston residents, not about the effect on our own members. While we are not happy to lose the positions, we want to point out that the downtown service is in high demand, and the people who will be losing out are the residents of Kingston who will have to wait longer for an ambulance when they need one.”

Dunn said that judging from the number of thumbs up gestures and the honking of horns on Princess Street during the two-hour action, “the people seem to be supportive.”

The local will be holding another information picket in downtown Kingston in the coming days, and will be presenting their case to the Council of the City of Kingston on May 21.

The decision to cut the day shift from Palace Road was made by Frontenac County Council, which is responsible for land ambulance services in Frontenac County and Kingston under contract with the Province of Ontario.

The decision came about soon after OPSEU Local 462 lodged a grievance to the Ontario Labour Board against a new sick time practice that Frontenac County implemented in January. In response to a steady climb in sick time claimed by OPSEU members over a number of years, Frontenac County Chief of Paramedic Services Paul Charbonneau proposed that when Kingston-based paramedics call in sick during day time hours, they not be replaced in certain circumstances. The plan was devised to save 5,000 hours in replacement pay per year.

When the grievance was launched in March, Frontenac County immediately abandoned the plan, and then decided to cut the downtown shift to save on labour costs.

Kingston City Council has no say over how the ambulance service is run. Frontenac County requisitions money each year from the City to cover ambulance costs for Kingston residents. While the province covers 50% of ambulance costs, the City of Kingston is paying over $6 million to the County in 2013 for ambulance services.

Shauna Dunn said that after making a presentation to Frontenac County about the impact of the cuts to City and County residents, OPSEU feels it needs to bring the matter to Kingston City Council as well.

“We don’t understand this cut in service when there is an ageing population in Kingston and Frontenac County, we are seeing a 12% increase in calls each year, and not too long ago management was talking about adding a new night shift in Kingston. We think Kingston City Council needs to look at this,” she said.