The Saskatoon Paramedic Association says job action is now on the table, with its members voting unanimously to give the union a strike mandate.
Association president, Russell Grant, says years of recruitment and retainment challenges among both paramedics and dispatchers have left EMS staff overwhelmed.
“We are losing staff members to allied services that be like Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon Fire Protective Services, nursing. We also have a significant number of staff that just leave the industry entirely. And a lot of that is within the first couple years of their career, which is kind of alarming,” Grant said.
“We want to see working conditions be to the point where people actually want to stay here.”
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Grant says losing skilled staff hurts everybody, and exhaustion is driving numbers down. “This is just increasing fatigue, burnout,” he said.
“The amount of staff that are off on mental health leaves, physical health leaves is alarmingly high and it needs to be properly addressed now before public safety is negatively impacted.”
The union has been without a contract since March of 2024 and bargaining and mediation have ended in an impasse. As of now, the association has no timeline on what job action could look like, but day-to-day operations will remain largely unchanged, and any steps would come with advanced notice.
Grant hopes the possibility of a strike may lead to a deal getting done through the public’s support.
“I hope it sparks conversation amongst the public and public can then talk to their MLAs, talk to Medavie Health Services West directly, put the pressure where it needs to go to get this resolved in a timely fashion,” Grant said.
In a statement to Global News, the SHA says no job action has been taken at this time, and they will continue to work with Medavie to ensure continuity of services. Medavie added that there are no changes to 9-1-1 and residents should call as usual.
Watch above for more on why paramedics voted for a strike mandate and what’s next.
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