Air ambulance workers in Peace River area may be locked out, says union

[tniuqs]

PEACE RIVER, Alta. — The operator of an air ambulance service based in northwestern Alberta has served lockout notice to its employees.

Advanced Paramedic Ltd., which is based at the airport in Peace River, employees nine paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The private company provides emergency health services to Edmonton from Peace River and surrounding communities.

The air ambulance employees voted to join the Health Sciences Association of Alberta in August 2009 and have since been trying to reach a first contract.

The association is asking the Alberta Labour Relations Board to dismiss APL's lockout notice.

Alberta Health Services contracted out the Peace River air ambulance service to APL in February 2003.

The association says the two sides are far apart on many issues, including scheduling.

Employees now work six days in a row on a 24-hour work cycle, which the association says "compromises the health and safety of both patient and health-care worker."

The union represents more than 1,200 EMS personnel across the province, including air ambulance service members.

Quite interesting that MOT regulations state that due to safety Pilots and Flight Attendants subjected to the stressors of flight and are limited to a 14 hour duty day ... all I will say on this topic its about DAMN time Flight Medics health and the safety of those that fall under their care are in placed in jeopardy. GO get em HSAA its way and in passing both the regulatory body and Employment standards Alberta and Federally are aware of this situation since 2004 (practice beyond safety for rest periods) ... Where was the regulatory body in this protecting the public safety with this very serious situation once again ?

Alberta Labour get your head out of your sphincter do whats SAFE for Albertans that are sick or injured.

Edited March 19, 2010 by tniuqs

[a_shane2_go]

Good to hear they are standing up to Private service. There are some really good private air services in Alberta... others on the otherhand.

Just a reminder that they are most likely like the other fixed wing services before 12 hour medic shifts. They pilots time out at 14 hours, yes. But they have 2 tweleve hour crews that rotate while the same EMS crew staffs it if they go into 24 hours of work... 36 hours.... etc.

[tniuqs]

http://www.prrecordgazette.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2495653&#postbox

Check out the link Shane, looks like the pilots too are supporting this move. And of course the operator whining like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. What is really interesting is that and I quote from the news paper :

If this union can manipulate my staff enough to form a strike, then that is what will happen. It will not change my position whatsoever.

Its no wonder that folks that worked before in this operation left for either health reasons or were forced out because there was no union to protect their jobs in the past to stand up to a such dogmatic owner.

I have a close friend who worked out of Peace River (ok more like 4) One sent a letter of concern to the medical director (who is an examiner for Pilots for MOT) for practicing way beyond reasonable safe limits and asked that s/he not be placed in the situation again.

Services were "no longer required" when the medical director passed the letter along to the Owner ... odd timing eh ?

cheers

Edited March 22, 2010 by tniuqs

[rock_shoes]

As a result of the MOT regulations I can not work more than 16 call hours in a 24 hour period when assigned to a ground unit. This is primarily as a result of maximum allowable hours driving in a 24 hour period (most crew-members either drive or attend for the duration of their shift and don't switch rolls part way through the shift). Why should it be any different when working a flight position? If it isn't safe or good patient care to work in excess of 16 hours on a ground unit what makes it ok to do when flying?

Edited March 22, 2010 by rock_shoes

[tniuqs]

Try explaining that to Employment Standards in Alberta .... and good luck with that.

[DartmouthDave]

Hello,

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. There needs to be limits placed on 'hour of work'. It is common sense. Tired crew place themselves and patients at risk. Really, 6 x 24 hour rotation!! I assume this is a salary position as well?

I hope things can be sorted out for the staff as well as the folks in Nortern Alberta.

Back in the day, we used the APL ground crew in Edmonton from time to time. Nice fellows.

Best of luck.

Cheers

[emtannie]

This came up for discussion when I was on shift yesterday, and one of the members I was working with used to work for APL. One of the reasons he left was because there were times when he worked 36 hours straight – not on call, but actually in a plane for 36 hours, and he knew he was a danger to patients due to fatigue.

Others who I work with, who know some in this situation, said that gossip they heard was that the staff requested a mediator, and that is when they were locked out – granted, this is water cooler gossip – but if that is in fact the case, it does not look good for the employer to lock out staff when they have asked for a mediator and are trying to negotiate to a resolution.

Quote from article link “The situation is truly unfortunate as the HSAA continues to drive the wedge between me and my staff as deeply as they can. The truth is, this union cannot make us do anything we are not willing to do nor will they. We cannot agree to anything that will put us in a jeopardizing position.”

- if the staff were truly happy with their situation, they would not have voted to unionize – obviously there were problems before they took the vote to unionize, and the employer is not acknowledging that

- putting the employer in a jeopardizing situation sounds more like “I will not spend more money, because profit is more important to me than crew or patient safety.”

“Furthermore, the HSAA wants us to make impossible guarantees that we cannot commit to without doubling our air ambulance payroll. It would be irresponsible of us to agree to anything we cannot commit to.”

- yes, doubling your ambulance payroll would mean that crews would not work the kind of hours they do now, and you would actually have to pay overtime – what a novel idea

- again, I strongly suspect there was employee/employer issues before this, and the employees approached the union as they were unable to work with the employer

[tniuqs]

Air ambulance company earns lockout permission

Updated 1 day ago By Kristjanna Grimmelt

Advanced Paramedic Ltd. has received approval from the Alberta Labour Board for a lockout application—the company's response to union demands including that it reduce on-call hours. If the company chooses to exercise its right to a lockout, the company's regular staff will not work, but the same number of contingency aircrafts will offer the air ambulance service. Scott Pattison, spokesperson for the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, said that the HSAA's primary concern is scheduling. APL employees currently work six 24-hour days in a row. Across Alberta, it's standard for emergency medical staff to receive eight hours off per 24-hour work period, he said, and he felt it compromises the well-being of staff and the patients they serve to require they work 24-hour on-call shifts.

"This by no means protects the health and safety of Albertans," he said.

Pattison pointed out how in many situations where a union is considering a strike, wages are the primary concern, but that it's not the case here. Stephen Woodburn, APL CEO, said that he wants to reach an agreement and that applying for a lock out sends the message that the company is "serious and prepared to look at issues on the table," he said. He has a deadline by which he will choose a lock out if no agreement has been reached but would not reveal the date.

"If we want to exercise this, we will."

Woodburn said his staff wanted the six-day work schedule to allow for more consecutive holidays and that they never work anywhere near 144 hours per week. "I'm happy to decrease [the number of on-call days]. If they wanted to do four days on, four days off, I'm okay with that, but they won't be. I know my staff." Woodburn also said it's necessary for his staff to be on call. "This is the air ambulance business and that's not going to change."

Alberta Health Services contracted out the Peace River air ambulance service to APL, a private operator, in February 2003.

HSAA represents more than 1,200 EMS personnel across the province, including air ambulance service members

Edited March 25, 2010 by tniuqs

[KosherMedic]

Wow... the Advanced Paramedic website is fancy.

http://www.apl4911.ca/

Now we have an idea of where the owner has been spending some of the money he's made off of exploiting those poor people who just want to fly into the blue yonder with critically ill patients under their care.

On the Alberta College of Paramedics job postings I see that Advanced Paramedic is hiring for what looks like all positions. Would those who take those positions be considered "scabs"? Mind you, if you want to fly for peanuts then now is your chance to get on with them...

[tniuqs]

This came up for discussion when I was on shift yesterday, and one of the members I was working with used to work for APL. One of the reasons he left was because there were times when he worked 36 hours straight – not on call, but actually in a plane for 36 hours, and he knew he was a danger to patients due to fatigue.

Others who I work with, who know some in this situation, said that gossip they heard was that the staff requested a mediator, and that is when they were locked out – granted, this is water cooler gossip – but if that is in fact the case, it does not look good for the employer to lock out staff when they have asked for a mediator and are trying to negotiate to a resolution.

Quote from article link “The situation is truly unfortunate as the HSAA continues to drive the wedge between me and my staff as deeply as they can. The truth is, this union cannot make us do anything we are not willing to do nor will they. We cannot agree to anything that will put us in a jeopardizing position.”

- if the staff were truly happy with their situation, they would not have voted to unionize – obviously there were problems before they took the vote to unionize, and the employer is not acknowledging that

- putting the employer in a jeopardizing situation sounds more like “I will not spend more money, because profit is more important to me than crew or patient safety.”

“Furthermore, the HSAA wants us to make impossible guarantees that we cannot commit to without doubling our air ambulance payroll. It would be irresponsible of us to agree to anything we cannot commit to.”

- yes, doubling your ambulance payroll would mean that crews would not work the kind of hours they do now, and you would actually have to pay overtime – what a novel idea

- again, I strongly suspect there was employee/employer issues before this, and the employees approached the union as they were unable to work with the employer

Edited March 28, 2010 by tniuqs