Clad in their trademark yellow jackets, about a dozen paramedics and supporters held a low-key lunch-hour rally Friday in front of Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell's office.
With a contract imposed by the government set to expire at the end of March, negotiations resumed on Dec. 10, said Canadian Union of Public Employees local 873 regional vice-president Richard Vollo.
"We're going around the province, especially the rural and remote areas of the province, and we're holding events such as this essentially to keep the pressure on the government to respect the collective bargaining process," Vollo said.
In November, the Liberal government passed Bill 21 to end a seven-month strike. Reflecting an offer made in September, the legislation gave paramedics a three-per-cent wage increase in line with other public sector workers in 2009.
Paramedics had been seeking parity with police and firefighters, but Vollo stressed the idea was to phase that in over several years. "What we were seeking was a framework to eventually achieve with other services," he said.
An industrial inquiry commission into the dispute found that B.C.'s paramedics are among the highest paid in Canada. But CUPE 783 said the finding does not account for the fact that 60 per cent of paramedics in B.C. are part-time and make only $2 an hour on pager and $10 an hour on call at the station.
The union boycotted the commission, saying the its terms of reference were too vague and Trumpy was too closely associated with the government. Reached Friday, Bell said he was disappointed the union chose not to participate.
"It's a way you resolve problems, not by demonstrating, but by working collaboratively," he said.
But Bell remained hopeful an agreement will be reached.
"They're especially important in rural B.C., there's no question about that," Bell said.
