Contracts that have allowed paramedics to work in Behchokọ̀ since late 2021 are a violation of the Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency’s collective agreement, an arbitrator has ruled.
The TCSA has used paramedics from private company 62 Degrees North since December 2021 to provide services in Behchokọ̀ and the surrounding area.
In 2023, the Union of Northern Workers filed a grievance alleging that this amounted to improper contracting-in.
The UNW argued that the paramedics, who sit outside the collective agreement and associated bargaining unit, were performing largely the same work as union members who are emergency medical responders in the bargaining unit.
With the 62 Degrees North arrangement in its fourth year and no clear end date in sight, the union alleged the contract had essentially become a permanent part of TCSA’s operations.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Arbitrator Amanda Rogers, who issued a written decision last week, said she had heard from emergency medical responders in Behchokọ̀ who felt sidelined by the arrival of the paramedics.
One EMR said “his available hours significantly decreased after 62 Degrees North began providing paramedics,” Rogers wrote, adding the EMR “expressed frustration at being unable to secure shifts despite being willing and qualified.”
She said EMRs had been “mostly relegated to driving the ambulance” while paramedics provided care.
The TCSA said it had started using paramedics during Covid-19 when staff shortages, in part because of sickness, meant the agency needed to look elsewhere for solutions.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
The agency also said the paramedics, who have more training than EMRs, could offer a higher level of care. Hiring paramedics in-house rather than through a contract would have required a “costly and complex” restructuring of TCSA, Rogers said the agency had told her.
Rogers said the duration of the 62 Degrees North arrangement, which includes multiple contracts stretching at least until December 2025, was a key factor in her decision that the collective agreement had been violated.
“The permissible amount of time for these kinds of arrangements [is] measured in weeks not months, let alone years,” Rogers wrote in her February 12 decision.
“The impact of the employer’s use of contracted paramedics on the bargaining unit, while not rising to the level of layoffs, is not insignificant. The reduction in overtime and relief opportunities for EMRs, along with the significant changes to the role of EMRs during emergency calls, in my view, represents a meaningful erosion of bargaining unit work.
“I find that having outside workers performing bargaining unit work alongside members is undermining the integrity of the bargaining unit.”
Rogers said that while she accepted hiring staff in isolated communities can be difficult, the TCSA had “not demonstrated that it has exhausted options for addressing these challenges within the bargaining unit.”
She said the ruling means the TCSA does not have to immediately end its 62 Degrees North contract, but must adjust its use of paramedics “to better protect bargaining unit integrity.”
The TCSA had previously told Rogers that it was working on a new healthcare model and did not plan to “supplement the system with contracted paramedics indefinitely.”
