It would probably be hard to find anyone who didn’t think paramedics were an essential service.
Certainly, anyone who has found themselves in need of their kind ministrations, whether on the side of the road after a collision or while being rushed to the hospital with shortness of breath or a heart attack, is likely to agree paramedics services are absolutely essential.
Unlike the other services that we expect to be there, day and night, rain or shine, labour dispute or not, like firefighters and RCMP, paramedics are not considered an essential service under the labour code.
This makes it hard for them when it comes to contract negotiations and labour disputes since many are hesitant to vote for a strike, given the lifesaving nature of their duties.
Being designated an essential service would give paramedics the right to request binding arbitration instead of striking, as their colleagues in other emergency services can.
Instead, paramedics are grouped with hospital workers, which makes it harder to negotiate for the special interests of their profession, which include rising call volumes stretching resources.
Paramedics have started a petition process to gain that essential service designation, but that has some tough requirements to meet. The petitioners have to gather signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in each of B.C.’s 85 ridings and do it in 90 days.
Even then, it’s not a given — the province has the option of enacting appropriate amendments or putting the matter to a referendum.
So if you are approached for a signature, ask yourself if you will be able to time your next emergency to avoid a paramedic strike? Or, can you do without their help for seven months? That is what we dealt with the last time paramedics went on strike in 2009 and were legislated back to work.