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Ambulance Paramedics Threaten Strike Notice

VICTORIA - If we imagine ambulance service in B-C as an ailing patient who needs help, then the Liberal government and the province's paramedics are each offering up a very different diagnosis. They're not even close.

The government's one year contract offer announced Thursday morning, includes a 3% wage increase and a signing bonus worth up to about $4000 for a full-time paramedic. The union was looking for a 22-29% wage increase over seven years.

The giant wage disagreement is based on each side presenting very different numbers showing the average paramedic wage in Canada. The government says full-time BC Ambulance paramedics earn within $1/hour of their counterparts in Edmonton, Calgary, and Ottawa. The union's numbers show paramedics in BC make between 9% and 23% less.

The union wants a paramedics' salary to be brought in line with Vancouver City Police as it says was the case in 1974 when the BC Ambulance Service was formed. Health Minister George Abbott's history books read differently. He says wage parity between the two was never the case.

Abbott says time is running out for the two sides to negotiate with the province heading toward a May election, and MLA's ready to hit the campaign trail.

Union leaders say Abbott is just worried a strike will hurt his re-election chances. The union intends to serve strike notice on Friday, but says if a strike goes ahead next week, it will not impact people in BC who call for help.