SD&G paramedics have a deal

SD&G – The City of Cornwall and the union representing SD&G paramedics have ratified a new collective agreement.

The three year deal is retroactive to September 30, 2013 and will expire at the end of September next year (2016).

Paramedics will see wage increases of 1.9 per cent in each year of the contract.

The exact dollar figures were not available because they have not been calculated and EMS runs on a combination of salaried employees and an allotment of nearly 31,000 part time hours per year.

“It’s in the same range as the other employee groups,” EMS Chief Myles Cassidy told Cornwall Newswatch, shortly after city council ratified the agreement Monday night.

Cassidy said there is also a slight adjustment to calculations of part-time hours in lieu.

CUPE Local 5734, representing around 105 full- and part-time paramedics, ratified the deal June 30.

The city is the delivery agent for paramedics in SD&G – a service that is shared 60-40 between the United Counties and Cornwall. Some of the costs are also split 50-50 with the Ontario Ministry of Health.

“It was a successful bargaining session and we reached an agreement that was ratified by the bargaining agent and city council,” Cassidy said.

Cornwall SD&G EMS is a 24-hour, 365-day service that provides emergency care to roughly 111,000 residents in Cornwall and the United Counties.

There are six emergency bases throughout SD&G.