Ambulance Dispatch Centre professionals have a tentative deal
August 28, 2007
Toronto: Air ambulance dispatchers and staff at the Infectious
Control Centre based in Toronto have a tentative agreement which, if ratified
Sept 4-5, will avert a Sept. 11 strike.
The 71 full-time and part-time members of Ontario
Public Service Employees Union Local 545 work for the new privatized non- profit
organization called ORNGE.
Union members are responsible for the dispatch of
helicopters to highway accidents, and coordination of organ retrieval flights,
as well as infectious disease screening (including SARS) for all inter-hospital
patient transfer services and Critical Care Land Ambulance transfer in
Ontario.
Union members voted 95 per cent Aug. 17 in favour
of strike action if their demands for a fair collective agreement were not met.
This is a first contract for these workers who were
divested from the Ontario Public Service in 2006 and began bargaining in June
2007.
|
