Two hundred CUPE ambulance workers - paramedical and emergency medical technicians in Edmonton - have reached a tentative agreement on a new three year contract. The employees are members of CUPE 3197.
The proposed three-year deal will provide salary increases of two per cent in the first year and three per cent in the second.
There is also a $250 signing bonus, plus a new long-service salary increment for employees with more than 10 years of service of five per cent.
As well, 50 casual emplyees will be converted to permanent, fulltime, employees with benefits.
The deal does not include a wage increase in the third year of the contract because the union got a commitment from the city to pursue the introduction of a “advanced life support system” which would see a paramedic on board every ambulance.
The National Representative working with the local is John Malthouse.