Unifor members employed by Ornge air ambulance have voted 94% in favour of strike action.
Northern Ontario union representative Keith Simons Simons daily service and operations won’t be impacted in the event of job action.
“It’s behind the scenes stuff that will change. Our day to day, such as how supplies are ordered. Management will have to step up, a lot of our members are doing above and beyond.”
Simons adds the main issue is a provincial cap at 1% for pay raise, benefit issues, and cost of living balance for workers who have to travel.
“We all are out of our houses, we do get to stay in hotels quite a bit, if we aren’t able to make it home at the end of our shift, if due to time constraints, or the weather. We haven’t looked at those per diem rates.”
Simons notes the dispute has to do with recent negotiations over Bill 124, which is what the 1% pay raise cap features, as well as wanting to have COVID-19 benefits in line with police and fire fighters.
“A lot of the items that we felt we wanted to table during the bargaining, we weren’t allowed to table, due to the constraints and the handcuffing of the ‘124’”.
There are 202 people in the union province-wide.
