BC Paramedics & Dispatchers Ratify New Collective Agreement

VANCOUVER, B.C., September 30, 2019–

BC’s 4,500 Paramedics and Emergency Medical Dispatchers have voted to ratify a new three-year Collective Agreement. The Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) and the Ambulance Paramedics & Ambulance Dispatchers Bargaining Association of BC (APADBA) reached Tentative Agreement on July 19, 2019. 

The new three-year Collective Agreement is the first stand-alone and collectively bargained agreement for BC Paramedics and Dispatchers since 2004. It contains general wage increases of 2.0% per year, hundreds of new regular paramedic jobs across the province and a number of new health and safety initiatives. It also ensures compliance with the new ‘meet or exceed’ requirements of the Employment Standards Act, by the end of March 2022.  The new agreement will be applied retroactively to April 1, 2019, with many changes scheduled to be implemented immediately or in the coming months.

“This new Collective Agreement introduces perhaps the most significant changes our workplace has ever seen in a single period of bargaining,” said Cameron Eby, President of the Ambulance Paramedics of BC, CUPE 873, “We’re now on a path to create regular, family supporting paramedics jobs in every community in BC, while ensuring reliable emergency coverage for our patients.”

The APADBA believes this agreement represents the positive relationship between the parties at the bargaining table and establishes a solid foundation from which continued growth will secure the future of paramedic services in BC.

About Ambulance Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of BC:

Ambulance Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of British Columbia is the union organization that represents the 4,500+ Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of the province of British Columbia, Canada. Please visit www.apbc.ca for more information.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

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