Memorandum of Understanding – Ready Process

Dear Members;

This is an update further to my past reports on the Memorandum of Understanding/ Ready aka “the MOU process” arising from the last round of collective bargaining. As you may be aware the Union’s position on the Memorandum of Understanding process was that the MOU was no longer enforceable, as the HEABC and the Employer both failed to abide by the MOU’s mandatory timelines. 

In a written submission to Mr. Ready, the Union had asserted that the timelines in the MOU were mandatory, and that neither the HEABC nor the Employer, had provided a reasonable basis, which would warrant the waiving of these timelines by Mr. Ready.  

The Employer asserted that Mr. Ready had jurisdiction over matter arising from the MOU.

Consequently, Mr. Ready ordered the parties to make submissions with regards to their respective positions on the extinguishment of the MOU.  

The parties submitted their respective positions and we received Ready’s recent decision on the matter.  

In summary, Mr. Ready ordered the parties back to the table to resolve the outstanding matters arising from the MOU.

Over the last two years, despite numerous requests, the Employer was not able to produce a single proposal, related to THEIR outstanding issues.

Recently, we agreed to dates the Employer provided and were not surprised to learn this afternoon that they were still not ready to meet. Unfortunately, they cancelled tomorrow and have indicated they may be ready by the end of the week.

In light of the Employer’s continued demonstration of failures and incompetence in all aspects of fulfilling their obligations under the MOU and operating the BC Ambulance Service, our expectations are low that this matter will be resolved.

We will keep you posted – stay tuned.

Sincerely, 

Bronwyn Barter
Provincial President
Ambulance Paramedics of BC
CUPE Local 873

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