94% of Ornge air ambulance union employees have voted in favour of strike action.
Northern Ontario Union representative Keith Simons tells us should a strike happen, there will not be any disruption to service.
“It’s behind the scenes stuff that will change. Our day to day, such as how supplies are ordered. Management will have to step up, a lot of our members are doing above and beyond,” says Simons.
The union rep adds the main issues are a provincial cap at 1% for pay raise, benefit issues, and cost of living balance for workers who have to travel. “We all are out of our houses, we do get to stay in hotels quite a bit, if we aren’t able to make it home at the end of our shift, if due to time constraints, or the weather. We haven’t looked at those per diem rates.”
The union rep adds there are about 35 ambulance workers based in Thunder Bay, but about six from this area.
He adds it has to do with recent negotiations over BillC124, which is what the 1% pay raise cap features, as well as wanting to have COVID-19 benefits in line with police and fire fighters.
“A lot of the items that we felt we wanted to table during the bargaining, we weren’t allowed to table, due to the constraints and the handcuffing of the 1-2-4,”
The union representative says there are 202 people in the union province-wide.
