Support the Paramedics – Time to step it up!

British Columbia’s Paramedics have been on strike for 121 days. They’re seriously restricted in their job action by essential service legislation. It seems the only noticeable sign of a paramedic strike is the large sticker reading “On Strike” that you will find plastered on every ambulance. Essential service legislation is commonly abused by the government (I can remember when Gordon Campbell considered the UBC Teaching Assistants essential), but in the case of our ambulance attendants lives actually hang in the balance. This poses a moral dilemma. Should paramedics defy essential service legislation knowing that lives will be lost? The argument isn’t so clear. The truth is, the paramedics have been standing against the deterioration of our ambulance service and if the government isn’t willing to pony up the cash to run the service properly, lives will be lost. But there are many other actions the paramedics can take without putting peoples’ lives in jeopardy.

The actual issues of the strike are shocking. Most people do not know that many paramedics get paid a lousy $2/hr while waiting for a call. This fact alone justifies all of the action they have taken so far. This is the information that needs to get into the public consciousness. The people of British Columbia would be outraged if they knew how these heroes were being treated – and that public outrage is what will win this strike.

If our ambulance attendants are going to win this fight for us, they need our support. It is time to take this campaign to a new level. CUPE should work with the BC Federation of Labour to organize public demonstrations and mobilize the broader labour movement. The paramedics should consider more militant actions to put this strike in the spotlight. A rolling parade of ambulances with their sirens blaring would get some attention. Perhaps a couple dozen paramedics, in uniform, could occupy Gordon Campbell’s constituency office. Sympathy strikes in the public and private sectors would go a long way too. It’s time to think outside of the box. Creative actions and civil disobedience are the way forward.

Don’t forget to visit their website - http://www.saveourparamedics.org/