FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2003
Ontario admits to staffing crisis at ambulance dispatch centres
The Ernie Eves government has admitted there is a staffing problem at the province’s ambulance dispatch centres.
According to a Request for Proposals (RFP) document issued May 16 by the Ministry of Health, “significant staff recruitment and retention challenges have been experienced in the past and continue to occur at provincial CACCs [Central Ambulance Communications Centres], as well as in CACCs province-wide.”
The RFP invites contractors to submit bids to run a new ambulance dispatch centre in Niagara.
“The Eves government has created the problem by not paying communications officers what they are worth,” said Leah Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
“It ignores its own report which recommends solving the problem by increasing their wages, and now it expects a contractor to do its work for it,” Casselman said.
The RFP goes on to say: “These challenges occur as a result of wage rates for police dispatch, fire dispatch, and other allied agencies being significantly greater than wage rates for CACC dispatchers. Ambulance communications officers are highly sought after by other emergency service providers.”
The RFP asks potential bidders to “provide innovative solutions to the issue of staff recruitment and retention through their RFP responses where applicable.”
The Ministry of Health directly operates 12 of Ontario’s 20 ambulance dispatch centres. It fully funds the remaining eight which are operated by hospitals or municipalities. The government wage rate is followed in “me-too” clauses in collective agreements at several of the dispatch centres it funds, but does not
operate.
A government-commissioned report of October, 2001, which the government kept secret for seven months during bargaining with OPSEU, recommended increasing wages for ambulance communications officers so they are competitive with police, fire and other dispatch services.
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For further information:
Patrick Fry-Smith, 905-923-2911
Megan Park, 416-579-5851
