The final week is nearing for the public to support a petition for paramedics to be designated as an ‘essential service’.
Nancy Dron is a paramedic in Williams LakeĀ and says that they need the signatures of 10% of each electoral district of the province to move it forward.
“For Cariboo North we need about 500 signatures yet. Cariboo-Chilcotin I don’t actually know where we’re sitting, there’s about 2,600 total that we need. Because of the large area that we’re covering the more signatures we have the better our chances are so I’d rather have too many than not enough.”
Dron says they will be collecting signatures Saturday in Williams Lake at Canadian Tire from 10am until 4pm, and Save On Foods from 3pm until 9pm.
She says you can also sign at Do More Promotional.
“The petition is for the general public to support paramedics in moving from our current facilities bargaining act into the Fire and Police Act,” Dron explains.
“The amendment would be then be called the Ambulance, Police, and Fire Act. It designates us as an ‘essential service’ like police and fire which is a designation we haven’t had up until now and it gives us a better position for when our negotiations come around. So instead of having a strike action or a lockout, we have the opportunity for a third party binding arbitration.”
You can also request a canvasser online to come to your home to sign the petition.
The petition closes on April 9, 2017.