Bargaining Update

Dear Members;

After seven months of rigorous negotiations, we are pleased to announce that we have reached an Agreement in Principal (AIP) for a new Collective Agreement. This AIP comes after our July 15^th date of mediation with Arbitrator Vince Ready was extended for the remainder of the week, as the parties were building momentum towards an agreement. In the early hours of Friday, July 19^th, the parties signed the AIP for a new Collective Agreement, with a three-year term.

This new agreement addresses a wide range of issues identified by our members. With the assistance of Mr. Ready, we have worked very hard to advocate for a range of improvements to our workplace and career opportunities.

You may notice the term AIP is slightly different than a ‘Tentative Agreement’. This is because there is an outstanding action required by Government, in order to move to the Tentative Agreement stage. That outstanding action is an Order in Council (OIC), to temporarily exempt Paramedics and Dispatchers from the minimum standards for hours of work and overtime, as set out in the recently revised Employment Standards Act (ESA). This temporary exemption is required to allow time for transition of our existing shift patterns and deployment models to meet or exceed the ESA standards. We expect this OIC to be finalized in early September 2019.

In the meantime, we will continue work over the next number of weeks to finalize numerous consequential changes needed and establish some terms for new working groups. This is a significant amount of work and we aim to have this completed by the end of August 2019.

Following completion of this work, and in expectation of the OIC, we intend to release a comprehensive review document, detailing all of the negotiated changes in full to members in early September 2019. This will be accompanied by information sessions, both online and in-person, where you can hear directly from the bargaining team and ask your questions. Please stay tuned for details on exact dates and locations of these sessions.

Finally, after the OIC is in place and information sessions have been provided, we will move to the ratification vote stage. This is expected to occur in mid to late September 2019, when each and every member will be provided the opportunity to vote on the Tentative Agreement. In advance, members should ensure that they have access to the www.apbc.ca members area, as this will be where you can access your voting ballot.

Thank you for your support and patience over the last number of months, while your bargaining team worked hard on your behalf.

Please stay tuned for more information at the end of August or early September.

Sincerely,

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