EXCLUSIVE: Group of Toronto paramedics refusing overtime
Posted October 5, 2012 7:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A group of Toronto paramedics is refusing to work overtime in a bid to force the city to hire 200 more paramedics.
Claiming they are chronically understaffed, some Toronto EMS paramedics began the work-to-rule job action on Thursday night, Local 416 steward Ken Horton told CityNews.
“They’ve decided to take themselves off an overtime call out list,” Horton said.
“And that’s to send a strong message to the city and our management because of the staffing levels. “
Horton didn’t say how many paramedics were refusing overtime, but described the group as “large.”
Local 416 acting chair Jim Witteveen says no new staff members have been hired over the past 10 years.
“We had 849 [paramedics] in 2001 — we gained two positions in 2002 to bring us up to 851 – and that number has remained stagnant over a decade.”
CUPE 416 represents nearly 6,000 paramedics, garbage collectors and other outside city workers.
The union’s president, Mark Ferguson, wasn’t immediately available for comment, but Kim McKinnon, Toronto EMS’s superintendent, told CityNews in an email that, “Local 416 has not advised us of any proposed job action.”
Scheduling is a key issue in the labour strife. EMS workers told CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt that 30 per cent of service is based on overtime hours — and starting January a major scheduling overhaul will see senior paramedics working nights and weekends.
The new schedule will also split up long time partners, relocate workers to other stations and shutdown some EMS stations overnight.
Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti defended the changes, saying they will lead to better service.
Mammoliti also said he would be happy to sit down with the union to discuss the situation but said, “If they are looking for a way to get away from us putting together a new schedule…I would have to say no to them.”
“Job action is not the way to go with this,” he added.
