Paramedics Address Frontenac County Council

Jeff Green | Apr 17, 2013

A delegation from OPSEU Local 462, which represents paramedics working in Kingston and Frontenac County, attended a meeting of Frontenac County Council on Wednesday morning, April 17.

Before the meeting, Local 462 informed the News that the shop steward, Shauna Dunn, supported by a large contingent of off-duty paramedics, would be urging the county to reconsider its decision to cut a 12-hour day shift from the busiest base in the Frontenac County land ambulance network. The ambulance is based at the Palace Road station near the Kingston Centre, which serves downtown Kingston.

Paramedic service members told the News that by cutting the shift, response times could be affected not only in Kingston, but could have a ripple effect in rural Frontenac County as well. The reason is, according to OPSEU, that when Kingston ambulances are all called out on calls, rural ambulances are pulled in closer to the City to provide standby service. This would affect response times to locations in Frontenac County.

OPSEU Local 462 is asking that the County consider other options to control costs rather than cut service.

The shift cut, which was announced last month, came about after OPSEU launched a grievance against a county plan to cease bringing in replacement workers for paramedics who are off sick, in certain circumstances. This plan, which was designed to save 5,000 hours in labour costs, was pulled as soon as the grievance was launched. The County then announced it was cutting the 12-hour ambulance in Kingston as of May 20 as a cost cutting measure.

Paul Charbonneau, the Chief of Paramedic Services for Frontenac County, said the service will be able to continue to meet their response time targets with one less ambulance on the day shift.

The union immediately expressed its concerns about service cuts and job losses for its members.