Health Region Distances Itself from EMS Dispute

Friday, April 16, 2004 at 13:51

 

 

An official with the Mamawetan Churchill-River Health Authority says the region won’t step directly into contract negotiations with disgruntled emergency medical services workers in La Ronge.

 

Informatics director Theresa Heinrichs says the matter is one that needs to be settled between the owner of the EMS company and the respective employees.

 

Workers have been without a contract for six months now and recently voted in favour of job action if the situation remains unresolved and they don’t receive a hike in wages and benefits.

 

Heinrichs says the health region is responsible for determining who provides emergency services for residents in their area, but it falls on the employer to set the wages that are received.

 

A labour spokesman for the workers say they just want what’s fair, and claims they receive wages that are below those given to workers in the health authority — even though they do exactly the same job.