Trumpy Report for BCAS

[rock_shoes]

Now see... that right there is what I'm talking about. It really helps when someone gives us reliable information so that those with our heads up our assets can develop a broader, deeper and more realistic view of what is going on. Thanks for the post.

For further clarification. My actual pay rates as a "part-time" paramedic (licensed as a PCP-IV) working for BCAS are as follows.

Working Rate: $21.19

Station Standby Rate: $11.12

Pager Standby Rate: $2.00

In addition there is a 17% fee paid in lieu of benefits and holiday pay. The 17% is applied only to hours paid at the working rate. Only hours paid at my working rate are considered pensionable. When on a station standby shift we are in quarters between calls and mandated to provide a 90 second chute time (the same as a car staffed full-time). When I take a call on a station standby shift I "bump up" to my working rate for a minimum of 3 hours or until the call is finished. After that 3 hour time frame has passed I return to the station standby rate until another call comes in. When paged from home I'm paid a minimum 4 hour call-out at my working rate (nothing special as this is simply BC labour standards minimum unless there is a mutually agreed upon variance by contract). There is no experience increase in pay for part-time staff until the 5 year mark at which time the persons working rate goes up by $5.

In order to make a living working as a young PCP-IV in BC I have to put in an excessive number of hours. Take this recent 2 week pay period for example. I was paid 77.77 hours at my “Working Rate”, 91.77 hours at my “Station Standby” rate, and 90.88 hours at my “Pager Standby” rate. When working what is referred to as a “Spareboard” shift I’m paid at the “Working Rate” for the entire shift.

As another point of reference consider this. When working in industry I’m paid a $325/day rate based on a 12 hour day. The company covers my flights, camp, fees everything for the entire time I’m up working for them in addition to that day rate. Even working a 12 hour spareboard shift for BCAS I gross $297.51 including the money paid in lieu of benefits. That’s 9% more for working in industry compared to working a spareboard shift which is infrequent at best.

Out of approximately 3500 paramedics over 2000 of us are classed as part-time.

[rock_shoes]

There is NO OFFICIALLY CMA accepted CCP program in BC so if a BC Paramedic states this, (again no clear definition of what is a CCP or title protection) it could be that they are ONT grads or perhaps their eyes are brown.

True. This is as a result of the training being done "in house". The ACP's performing CCT's in BC are appropriately educated to do the job and do meet competencies very similar to CCP's in Ontario. Titles are actually protected here and as a result the ACP's performing CCT work in BC should not be called CCP's. Instead of being called CCP's they are granted "license endorsements" that bring their SOP to a similar level. The current program should not be confused with the former "air-evac" in house program. These people are actually being screwed out of a nationally recognized title because of the way the program is being administered. In addition they are restricted and can only work to the base ACP SOP when not performing a CCT. I guess their brains must fall out between CCT calls.

The nightmare continues with ALS here in BC. There is a tremendous amount of productive discussion to be had on this particular topic, but I think it will be better left to a different thread.

[tniuqs]

True. This is as a result of the training being done "in house". The ACP's performing CCT's in BC are appropriately educated to do the job and do meet competencies very similar to CCP's in Ontario.

Titles are actually protected here and as a result the ACP's performing CCT work in BC should not be called CCP's. Instead of being called CCP's they are granted "license endorsements" that bring their SOP to a similar level. The current program should not be confused with the former "air-evac" in house program.

These people are actually being screwed out of a nationally recognized title because of the way the program is being administered. In addition they are restricted and can only work to the base ACP SOP when not performing a CCT. I guess their brains must fall out between CCT calls.

The nightmare continues with ALS here in BC. There is a tremendous amount of productive discussion to be had on this particular topic, but I think it will be better left to a different thread.

Yea agreed let's get a Trumpy neck harness made out of 10.5 mm kermantle ... I have an old spare I could donate.

[tniuqs]

Well well it appears that at least one rag editor is not in agreement with the Trumpy report ! Make note my old Home Town Nelson where the BC government basically closed a hospital (the only one) just when Nelson was in the throws of building retirement villa, then to station a CCT flight crew out of the hospital in Trail area leaving Nelson and Castlegar with BLS Ambulance .. DUH.

ps the Airstip in Nelson is one of the toughest to get into, I suppose that little issue never surfaced when the government did its "calculations" to restructure and under fund .. can one see know why not only Medics but taxpayers are steamed.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/letters/82978527.html

Paramedic inquiry bogus

Editor, The Record:

Re: Inquiry proposes paramedic options

This is exactly why the paramedic union stayed away from this report. This report has only re-iterated (sometimes word for word) what the government has been saying during the paramedic strike.

Mr. Trumpy could only muster up two paragraphs about one of the largest issues paramedics have been facing (staffing), but he obviously found the time to go beyond the established terms of reference and researched two additional ways of dismantling BCAS (privatization and community based services).

And as what seems to be habitual for anyone associated with the government, such as this report, all the talk and comparison of paramedic wages happens to completely ignore the wages of sixty per cent of paramedics! Why does Mr. Trumpy and the entire government ignore the wages of the majority of the workforce? By ignoring this they can boast that they pay the best – when the truth is they pay the worst – when you look at all paramedics, not just a minority of them. Mr. Trumpy, like the Liberals he is supposed to be neutral from, cherry picks a very small minority of paramedic wages (very senior full-timers), and ignores the rest.

Jason Angulo

[DartmouthDave]

Hello,

Here is some interesting news that I read online and transfering EMS to each health region;

http://www.timescolonist.com/business/looks+privatizing+ambulances/2549719/story.html

I have heard some rumbling about this at work.

I would write more (...want to...) but I need to run to my NRP re-certification.

Cheers...