Councilor's comments Spark Response From EMS Chief

Jeff Green | Jul 23, 2014

David Jones, a member of Frontenac County Council representing the Township of Frontenac Islands, expressed his continuing unhappiness at the rate of absenteeism among Frontenac County employees at a meeting of council last week.

His comments were occasioned by two reports by Colleen Hickey, the county manager of human resources - a quarterly attendance management report card for April to June of this year, and a monthly attendance report for June. The reports were ordered by county council last year in an attempt to get a grip on rising rates of absenteeism at Frontenac Paramedic Services and Fairmount Home, the county's two major operations.

Although the reports show that the rate is trending down at Frontenac Paramedic Services, Jones was not satisfied.

“We are near the end of our term, people,” he said, “and we saw that the numbers were going up and up each year. Just because they are down a little does not mean we have accomplished anything. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each year here. Folks, if this was your business you wouldn't stand for it.”

Then, looking at the report on his computer screen, he said, “We will see what happens to the numbers now that summer time is here. I wonder if they will go up again.”

Jones' comments were not unusual, or unexpected. He reportedly made similar comments earlier in the week when new County CAO Kelly Pender was making a courtesy call to a meeting of Addington Highlands Council.

However, this time Chief of Paramedics, Paul Charbonneau, took offence and spoke up in an unprecedented manner.

Noting that there have been ten suicides among emergency services personnel recently in Canada, he said, “It is cumulative stress dealing with the shit that we deal with every day that is responsible for this. You can't compare what paramedics face each day with what happens in the private sector where people sit on their asses all day at a desk.”

When Jones was questioned after the meeting as to whether he believes that Frontenac County paramedics have been faking illness to get time off, he replied, “I did not say that.”

When further pressed about his comments regarding whether workers are more likely to call in sick during the summer, he paused, then said, “I was just musing, that's all.”

Shauna Dunn, the newly minted president of OPSEU Local 462, which represents the paramedics, commented on news reports about Jones' comments by elaborating on some of the points made by Paul Charbonneau: “ Paramedics are frontline health care workers, in close contact with sick people, multiple times per shift. We routinely face situations where we are exposed to saliva, mucous, blood, vomit, urine, and feces. We work outside in extreme weather. We work inside homes that can be described, at best, as unsanitary. We lift heavy patients in environments where proper body mechanics are not always possible. We work shift work. We see, hear, and smell things in the course of our duties that the average person would be horrified by if they were subjected to once, let alone multiple times. All of these factors affect us. Both physically and mentally.”

Both Charbonneau and Dunn were also surprised by the context of Jones' remarks, given that the reports he was commenting on both showed a marked decreased in absenteeism among Frontenac County paramedics in 2014.

Compared to 2014, absenteeism has been lower than the corresponding month in 2013 for each of the last four months. The county has set a target of a maximum of 12 sick days per unionized Frontenac Paramedic Services employee per year. In 2012, 45% of employees exceeded that target; in 2013, 42% exceeded the target; and in the first four months of 2014 (with a target of four sick days since it is only 1/3 of a year) only 16% of the paramedics exceeded the target.

Early in 2013 the Local 462 and Frontenac Paramedic Services were at loggerheads over absenteeism. A plan put forward by Paul Chabronneau to leave some shifts uncovered if paramedics were not available in order to save costs led to a grievance being filed to the Ontario Labour Board by the union. The County responded by abandoning the plan, and instead cut a 12-hour a day ambulance in the City of Kingston, which in turn cut the Local 462 work force by four full-time equivalent positions.

Relations were tense following that decision, but according to Shauna Dunn there has been a marked improvement in 2014, brought on partly by new leadership at the local and a new attitude at Frontenac County.

“We held a workshop session in the winter with our new executive, and management people and I think both sides found it very helpful,” she said.

For his part, Paul Charbonneau said that “We are working on a culture change between ourselves and the union, and I think it has been good for everyone.”

That change was reflected in a request by County Warden Bud Clayton that Shauna Dunn be part of the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Robertsville Station.

That being said, the labour contract between Local 462 and the County ran out on January 1 of this year, and negotiations have not begun for a new contract. Before bargaining can begin, both sides need to agree on a level of service that will be maintained in the event of a strike or a lock-out, and they have not been able to come to terms. A meeting was held with a labour board official last month to try to work one out, unsuccessfully.

A full hearing is set for October, and bargaining will presumably begin once the Labour Board rules.

Sick pay is likely to be one of the key items in those negotiations.