Dear Sisters and Brothers,
.
We have a fight coming. It’s a fight for our jobs and it’s the fight for our profession. Professional Paramedics save lives. In the Region of Peel our Paramedics, members of OPSEU Local 277, are recognized as world leaders in patient outcomes and this year, despite a zero percent budget increase, the Region was able to introduce more Ambulance service hours and more Paramedics to protect our community.

The Paramedics of OPSEU Local 277 are a remarkably effective and efficient use of tax payers’ dollars. The fire departments of Brampton and Mississauga are carelessly pushing politicians to look at alternative delivery methods that expand the use of less trained, less experienced fire personnel on medical calls. According to the Ontario Professional Fire Fighter Association the expansion into EMS in necessary because it will expand the bargaining power of firefighters and allow them to attract scarce tax dollars.

The problem that I have with fire expanding into EMS, aside from their lack of training in Prehospital medicine is that their expansion gobbles up much needed resources for the primary agency: us. It is simple math: 1 medic in an RRU that can provide superior, trained, medical care is at least four times cheaper than four UNtrained fire fighters showing up at the same time. An ambulance with two paramedics costs about

half of the fire truck. It defies explanation that the Fire Services claims it is more efficient to send them to more calls that they are not required on. Admittedly, fire services are needed on some calls, but on the large majority of tiered calls they are not. They are attending to bolster their numbers which will erode proper funding for EMS and, at the end of the day, put our patients at risk.

It is simple; the most appropriate is the most efficient. Paramedics on ambulances are the most efficient resource for medical calls and your union will continue to advocate for the appropriate allocation of resources.

In Solidarity,
Dave Wakely

http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/13399/la_id/1.htm - Original

On behalf of the over 400 Paramedics in the Region of Peel represented by OPSEU Local 277, I wanted to communicate our support of your struggle for fair pay and benefits for your hard working members. Walking the picket line with your members in Hamilton and Mississauga I was struck by your members dedication to quality public services and to ensuring fair wages for future workers. We stand in solidarity with you.

The corporations shameful decision to lock out workers, and shut down a valuable public service, in order to create a crisis that gives the government an excuse to target associational rights echos the economic crisis created by corporations and used to destabilize unions world wide and it should be seen for what it is: a cheap bargaining tactic that undercuts workers rights. Public Services are too important to play games like this with.

You are our Sisters and Brothers in Labour and in Public Service and we will continue to stand in solidarity with you in your political and contract struggles.

In Solidarity,
Dave Wakely
President
OPSEU Local 277

Peel Region Paramedic Services

Collective Agreement

2010-2012 - Final