Montreal, Thursday, April 9, 2009 — The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-QFL) is proud to announce that an agreement in principle was reached late last night between emergency medical dispatchers and representatives of Urgences-santé corporation. This agreement will be submitted shortly to the forty-odd dispatchers for ratification at a general meeting. Details on the agreement will be released once members have had a chance to consider and decide on it.
Urgence-santé’s dispatchers have been without a collective agreement since June 2003. These are the people who decide where to send ambulances in the Montréal and Laval regions and who give medical advice to those staying with victims until an ambulance arrives. Their training is demanding and they deal on a daily basis with individuals in distress who may have lost or be in danger of losing loved ones.
To find out more about emergency medical dispatch, there is an 11 minute video available online at http://scfp.qc.ca/modules/pages/index.php?id=71 as well as a report from the November 1 episode of Radio-Canada’s television program Enquête that spotlights the daily experience of emergency medical dispatchers.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-QFL) represents some 20,000 health and social services workers in Québec, as well as workers in 10 other sectors including education, municipalities, public transit, air transportation, Québec government corporations and agencies, energy, and communications. With more than 105,000 members in Québec, CUPE is the QFL’s largest affiliate.
This press release and other information are available on scfp.qc.ca
SOURCE: CANADIAN UNION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES (QFL)