Ambulance Dispute Hits Port aux Basques NL

[OwleyMedic]

Officials are scrambling on the southwest coast today to head off a situation which could have left a large area without ambulance service. Ambulance crews have been summoned from Corner Brook to cover off emergency services in the Port aux Basques region following a dispute between operators and workers. Bob Patten, the owner/operator of Reliable Ambulance Services Ltd., says they received a request around 11:30 this morning to send an emergency staff to the area to cover ambulance services.

Patten says the set-back in local services stems from a labour dispute. He says there's two different stories. He says the employer is saying that the employees resigned en masse, and the employees are saying that they were all fired. Patten says this will not affect service in the Corner Brook region. He says they have extra units and staff, so they're going to cover services until something is worked out with the ambulance operator in Port aux Basques. A spokesperson for Mackenzie's Ambulance Service in Port aux Basques would offer no comment on the situation.

:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

[spenac]

Hope they are eligible for overtime covering all those extra shifts.

Wonder what the truth is fired or quit?

[Chief1C]

Pardon my, perhaps ignorance, I'm not entirely familiar with EMS in Canada. I only know what our Canadian counterparts tell us, b/c really all I read into was the roots of their EMS systems, per se. I was under the impression that all emergency response - ambulance services in Canada were gov't. owned and operated?

[tniuqs]

Pardon my, perhaps ignorance, I'm not entirely familiar with EMS in Canada. I only know what our Canadian counterparts tell us, b/c really all I read into was the roots of their EMS systems, per se. I was under the impression that all emergency response - ambulance services in Canada were gov't. owned and operated?

Many places are "contracted" out.

[Chief1C]

Many places are "contracted" out.

I see, said the (Sight Impaired) man, to the (Hearing Impaired) dog.

[tniuqs]

I see, said the (Sight Impaired) man, to the (Hearing Impaired) dog.

Yea its kinda confuzzing at the best of times .

[OwleyMedic]

Hope they are eligible for overtime covering all those extra shifts.

Wonder what the truth is fired or quit?

From what I can find out when presented with a sudden change in working conditions (shift schedule) several people would not agree to the changes, and were told " your services are no longer required" the rest quit in support. There is also a roomer that they had applied for union certification.