Today, May 31, 2024, marks a milestone in this province’s history. At midnight tonight the province will move towards an amalgamated EMS system with all EMS practitioners (paramedic and emergency medical responders) in our province being moved toNewfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS). We wish to commend these dedicated employees for their hard work and commitment to making this happen.
This industry under, private contract, faced enormous obstacles to the advancement of pre-hospital care. The employees’ concerns were often ignored, and they were asked to perform often to their own detriment so the operators could make more profit.
As was inevitable the system would reach its breaking point. The employees started reaching out looking for someone to give them a voice. Teamsters Local Union 855 was extremely honoured to became that vessel.
The most prominent factor of the inequity within the system was pay, not only was there a significant gap between the public system and the private but there were significant gaps in pay within the private services. The employees, through negotiations, were able to have a substantial impact in ensuring that everyone was paid the same in their company and this had a spillover effect in to the industry.
Following pay equity within they started working towards equity between the public and private systems. This put pressure on the employers and in turn they looked to the government to help meet the demands of the workers. The employees came really close in closing this gap. This was the start of the province recognizing the value of the work these individuals were doing.
The workers continuously exercised their voice in negotiations towards bettering their quality of life and in turn improving the standard of care in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. The government reacted to this change in dynamic, by offering increased incentives, more then had ever been seen in the history of private EMS in this province to try and settle the momentum these workers were creating.
This came to a head when an employer tried to exploit these incentives as bargaining tools in negotiations. Despite the employers’, assurances to government, the employees had had enough, and we saw the first, province wide, private EMS strike in this province’s history. This led to the government holding an emergency sitting and enacting the Emergency Services Act. This was criticized as “back to work” legislation but turned out to be the best bargaining tool for the employees.
It is because of this action we see the substantial step the province has taken, in amalgamating the services today, to better EMS in rural Newfoundland and Labrador and in the province as a whole.
We are very pleased that the employees reached out to this union to support their voices and goals of working towards a better EMS system in this province. While we will not be the union representing these dedicated individuals but we will continue to advocate for and support them as the industry moves forward.
Please remember for all emergency services in our province: