After a marathon negotiation session that lasted more than 16 hours, B.C.’s paramedics’ union and the province’s Health Employers Association have reached a tentative agreement.
Negotiations have been ongoing since October, centered around key issues such as wages, benefits and service delivery in rural areas.
Veteran mediator Vince Ready was brought in three weeks ago to help break the deadlock in talks between paramedics and the province.
According to Troy Clifford, Ambulance Paramedics of BC’s president, the issues have been addressed in the deal.
“We’ve worked tirelessly with the government and the employer to address our members’ and services’ most important issues and bring significant improvements to the ambulance service,” he said.
“This new agreement will help secure a significant foundation for improvement for paramedic services in B.C. and one that acknowledges the uniqueness of our service and challenges for our profession. This is a giant step towards providing the appropriate level of care to our patients across B.C. ”
The tentative deal comes as B.C.’s ambulance system is in the middle of a crisis, officials have said.
The union said 89 ambulance units were out of service during the latest bargaining session, which amounts to around 30 per cent of all ambulances in the province.
Health Minister Adrian Dix acknowledged in December 2022 how challenging it will be to fix B.C.’s ambulance system.
“It’s my view that we have to take strong action to recruit paramedics to rural communities and that’s what was failing prior to 2017, and that’s what we tried to change by moving people from casual status to permanent status,” he said.
Next will be a vote from more than 4,500 union members to decide if they want to ratify the deal.
The ratification vote is expected to happen in the coming weeks.
“Out of respect for the ratification process, which requires both parties to take the tentative agreement back to their respective members to ensure broad-based support, the parties have committed to keeping the details of the tentative agreement confidential and will not be releasing any details publicly at this time,” the union said in a release.
The B.C. Ministry of Health offered a quick comment on the deal.
“The Ministry of Health is very pleased to hear that both parties have reached a tentative agreement,” staff said.
“Out of respect for the integrity of the ratification process, and the rights of union members to vote on their collective agreements, as well as health employers in the sector, we’ll leave any further comment until that process is complete. “