Calgary News Watch

If you thought we’d seen the last of the city versus the union and strike threats, you thought wrong. The transit bus contract issue has been solved but a new dilemma has begun.

The city and the paramedics have gone to mediation in their contract dispute. Paramedics have been working without a contract for the past year. While firefighters and police are prohibited from striking (they are considered essential), paramedics are not. A situation which makes the city unhappy.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier feels they shouldn’t be allowed to strike.

“We have had an EMS strike before and it’s not pleasant and nobody wants to see that,” he said.

Paramedics last went on strike back in 1991 and were close in 2000 until the province got involved.

“EMS is, in my view, an essential service and I think if you asked most Calgarians, they would agree — we may have to revisit it with the province,” Bronconnier said.

Lorelei Fiset-Cassidy, spokeswoman for the province, stated that no law in Alberta would allow for the declaration of the paramedics as essential.

Talks are underway with a very secretive city. The only information is that talks are continuing.

Could we be in for another ugly battle? This time with our emergency services?

Source: Calgary Sun

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Global News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or Search Engine Friendly trackback (rel='external') from your own site.