Information
for OPSEU members in the Ambulance Division - September 1999
Your rights as an ambulance paramedic depend on the type of employer
you have. The three types of employers are the Ontario Public Service (OPS), independent
owner-operators (including volunteer-run services) known as crown agents, and hospitals.
Each of these employers bargain under different pieces of legislation that give ambulance
workers different rights.
We all want the quality of our ambulance services to be
maintained and, indeed, improved after downloading. Paramedics are the key to ensuring
quality emergency health care. For downloading to work, the government should guarantee:
job offers for all paramedics; recognition of service and seniority; and the right to
interest arbitration in a separate bargaining unit.
Through bargaining and lobbying, OPSEU is fighting for the
rights of paramedics and our communities to quality ambulance services.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. The provincial government has downloaded
responsibility for ambulance to the municipalities. What are their options?
A1. Regional and county governments, known as Upper Tier
Municipalities, have until Sept. 30, 2001 to select one of three options: run the
ambulance service themselves as a municipal service, contract out the service through a
tendering process known as a Request for Proposals (RFP), or negotiate a contract with the
current operator(s).
Q2. Will I keep my job after the municipality has
decided who will deliver the service?
A2. It largely depends on three things: the type of
employer you currently work for, who the new employer will be, and what the new employer
wants to do.
The first thing to understand is that the Harris government
stripped successor rights from crown employees when it amended the Crown Employees
Collective Bargaining Act (CECBA) in 1995.
As a result, paramedics in the OPS and crown agent services
no longer have the right to a job, to keep their collective agreement or their union when
their work is sold or transferred to a new employer.
OPSEU believes that all paramedics working in the ambulance
sector today should keep their jobs. We are lobbying the province to pass a regulation
that requires any new operators taking over a service to give job offers to paramedics who
have been working in the same service area.
Q3. If I’m in the OPS, doesn’t the
Reasonable Efforts Agreement (REA) guarantee me a job offer?
A3. OPSEU believes that it does. We believe that the REA
requires municipalities to ensure OPS paramedics get job offers whether the service is
municipally-run (as in Durham and York Regions), or is contracted out.
Article 6.1.1 of the Reasonable Efforts Agreement (REA)
between OPSEU and the province reads "...the employer will propose in negotiations
with the receiving employer that job offers shall be at a salary of at least 100% of the
respective employee’s weekly salary at the time of the transfer..."
However, some municipalities are claiming that they are not
bound by the REA. They have not come to an agreement with the province about the transfer
of OPS members.
We don’t think that’s acceptable. OPSEU urges the
municipalities and the province to live up to their obligations to our members.
Q4. If jobs are posted by the municipally-run
service before it has come to an agreement with the province, should I go ahead and apply?
A4. In order to safeguard your future, it is best to apply
for a job. However, if you’re in the OPS, it is important that you do not resign from
the Ministry of Health until an agreement has been reached between the municipality and
the province. If you resign, you could be ineligible for entitlements under the REA.
Q5. Do hospital-based paramedics have successor
rights?
A5. Hospital-based paramedics bargain under the Ontario
Labour Relations Act (OLRA). They can claim successor rights if the municipality runs the
ambulance service. If the claim is successful, their collective agreement will apply to
all of the employees of the service, unless there is a vote involving other unions.
Q6. What is OPSEU doing to fight for job security
for paramedics?
A6. OPSEU is lobbying the province for a guarantee that
paramedics will get job offers from any ambulance service(s) taking over the contract(s)
in their area.
OPSEU and the two ambulance operator associations, ASAO and
OAOA, wrote May 7th to the provincial government, asking it to: guarantee job offers,
bring in interest arbitration, and remove the crown agent services from the Crown
Employees Collective Bargaining Act (CECBA).
The crown agents would then fall under the Ontario Labour
Relations Act (OLRA), restoring our successor rights. Under the OLRA’s Section 69, if
work is sold or contracted out, workers can claim their jobs and their collective
agreement follow the work to the new employer. We could then claim that paramedics should
keep their jobs when a new service takes over the contract.
On other fronts, OPSEU is pressuring the provincial
government to live up to its obligations under the REA. We will file policy grievances
with the Ministry of Health if the government does not negotiate job offers for our OPS
members. Other legal charges may follow if the province refuses to abide by the REA.
Q7. Why is the right to arbitrate so important?
A7. It will give paramedics the same right as other
emergency workers.
Firefighters and the police settle their bargaining
disputes by resorting to a three-person arbitration panel. OPSEU believes paramedics
deserve the same right.
The alternative is a meaningless right to strike.
Municipalities are lobbying the government to designate ambulance services as essential
services. This would result in the majority of workers having to stay on the job in the
event of a strike.
OPSEU is asking the government to legislate equal treatment
for all emergency workers. Interest arbitration is in the best interest of paramedics
because it will ensure meaningful negotiations between the parties.
It also meets the needs of municipalities and the public.
They don’t want a disruption to the ambulance service in the event of a labour
dispute.
The right to interest arbitration would create a separate
bargaining unit for ambulance paramedics where municipalities plan to run the services, as
in Durham and York Regions.
President Leah Casselman wrote July 23rd to the Ministers
of Labour, Health, Management Board and Municipal Affairs, calling for paramedics to have
the same right to interest arbitration as other emergency workers.
Q8. Will I keep my seniority with the new employer?
A8. The REA has a seniority regulation which requires the
new employer to recognize the seniority of employees whose work has been transferred from
the crown to a municipality. It is OPSEU’s position that this applies not only to the
OPS, but also to paramedics who work for crown agents, since they, too, are considered
crown employees.
Some municipalities, including York Region, have refused to
comply with this regulation in the past (in the case of Income Maintenance Officers).
OPSEU has launched a challenge with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, charging York
Region and CUPE (into whose bargaining unit the Income Maintenance Officers ended up) with
failing to comply with the seniority regulation. That challenge will be heard in the fall.
Its outcome will likely have an impact on the issue of seniority for paramedics.
Q9. What wages, benefits and working conditions can
I expect?
A9. For OPS paramedics, the agreement between the province
and the individual municipality will determine your wages, benefits and working
conditions.
It is unclear what will happen to paramedics who currently
work for crown agents because they don’t have successor rights. That means they
don’t have a claim to a job offer and their collective agreement does not go with
them. That’s why OPSEU is working so hard for a job offer guarantee and the
de-listing of crown agents from CECBA.
Q10. How much severance pay and notice of layoff am
I entitled to?
A10. OPS Paramedics:
They are entitled to six months notice of layoff. If OPS
paramedics accept a reasonable job offer, they will receive one week’s pay per
year of service, if they have at least five years continuous service. These payments will
be set off against any Employment Standards Act severance payments. Workers cannot collect
both kinds of payment for the same period of time.
OPS paramedics who refuse a reasonable job offer are
deemed to have resigned and will be eligible for only termination payments.
Paramedics who refuse an unreasonable job offer can
exercise their rights under Article 20 (Employment Stability) and/or paragraphs 2 to 5 of
Appendix 9. They get six months notice or pay in lieu, and double severance if they
resign.
Crown agent paramedics:
They are entitled to four months notice of layoff. They are
eligible for one week’s pay per year of service to a maximum of 26 weeks. OPSEU is
trying to increase this to two week’s pay at the bargaining table.
Wording in the central agreement does not exclude
part-timers, but some local agreements might make them ineligible for this entitlement. We
are attempting to correct this inequity in this round of central bargaining.
If the new employer gives job offers at 100% of pay,
and recognition of service for the purposes of vacation, wages and severance, and is found
to be a "purchaser" under the central agreement, then severance will not
be payable. Severance obligations will be transferred to the new employer.
If crown agent paramedics refuse such a job offer,
they will not be eligible for severance unless they are eligible for Factor 80. If the
job offer is less, then paramedics are eligible for severance, regardless of whether
they decline or accept the job offer.
The province has asked the owner-operators to estimate the
cost of severance in their services. We’ve been told the government will fund the
severance.
Hospital-based paramedics:
Severance is determined by their collective agreement or by
the Employment Standards Act (ESA). Employees would be eligible for one week per year of
severance for each year of service under the ESA, to a maximum of 26 weeks for employees
who have worked at least five years. This is provided the employer has a payroll of at
least $2.5 million or is cutting at least 50 jobs.
Q11. Some crown agent services have issued notices
of indefinite lay-off as per the four month rule. What is OPSEU’s response?
A11. OPSEU has written to the operators’ spokesman in
central bargaining to invoke the job registry provision of the central collective
agreement.
Before any service can hire from the outside, it has to
give good faith consideration to employees on the registry. The registry would apply
province-wide.
We hope that the government will legislate job offer
guarantees, so that the registry will not be necessary.
Q12. If a municipality decides to run the ambulance
service, will we have our own bargaining unit, or will we end up in an all-employees
bargaining unit like paramedics in Metro Toronto?
A12. As it stands now, paramedics would be placed in a
bargaining unit with several hundred other municipal employees. (That’s unless the
municipality agrees otherwise -- more on that later.) Our issues would be diluted and
traded off in the bargaining process. Bargaining disputes would be resolved through
strikes. These concerns have been raised by paramedics in Metro Toronto for some time now.
OPSEU believes paramedics need their own bargaining unit,
with the right to arbitrate.
They have unique issues specific to their profession, such
as Advanced Life Skills training. Those issues need to be provided for in their own
collective agreement.
All it takes to get a separate bargaining unit is for the
municipality to agree to it. Another route is getting the right to arbitrate which,
generally speaking, results in a stand-alone unit being created. That’s because
employees with the right to strike can’t be intermingled with those who have the
right to arbitrate.
A separate bargaining unit will also help us maintain our
bargaining power. We’ll be able to build on the many achievements gained over the
years by OPSEU’s Ambulance Division. With a separate bargaining unit, we’ll
ensure the downloading and subsequent restructuring of our sector won’t divide us or
weaken our bargaining strength.
Q13. What will happen to my union?
A13. When the government stripped successor rights from
most OPSEU paramedics, they took away your right to determine which union represents you
if your work is sold or transferred to a new employer.
Paramedics will be denied their democratic right to choose
which union represents them if a municipally-run service does not consider the right to
arbitrate and automatically places paramedics into an existing bargaining unit.
We think that’s wrong. It’s one of the reasons
why we’re trying to regain successor rights by removing the crown agents from
CECBA.
It’s also another argument in favour of the right to arbitrate. Interest arbitration
would lead to the creation of a separate bargaining unit solely for paramedics, and
therefore, make it possible for a representation vote to be held.
OPSEU’s Ambulance Division has won significant gains
for paramedics, including: central bargaining for the 48 crown agents, wage parity with
the OPS for the crown agents and hospital-based paramedics, and recognition of ALS
training.
We’ll continue the fight to protect your job and your
bargaining rights through the downloading.
Q14. What can I do to help?
A14. Take this message to your municipal councillors and
your MPP: all paramedics should get a job offer, their service and seniority should be
protected and they should get a separate bargaining unit with the same right to interest
arbitration as firefighters and the police.
Original authorized for distribution:
Leah Casselman, President
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