Prairie EMS Inc. Bargaining Update #6

Your elected Bargaining Committee and negotiators met with the mediator and the employer’s bargaining committee on April 15, 2026.

Initially, we were hopeful that the employer’s request to meet for a single day of bargaining was an indication that they had heard our concerns and were prepared to return with a meaningful proposal addressing our monetary concerns. 

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

We are not prepared to forgo the needs of our members by accepting excuses about their lack of finances, especially when we are seeing other EMS groups making gains under the same conditions.

What happens next?

We have asked the mediator appointed under section 65 of the Code to “write out” of the process, which allows us to move forward to the next steps. We will proceed to the Alberta Labour Relations Board to apply for compulsory arbitration, as we cannot strike or access an Essential Services Agreement.

This means that we will ultimately submit our proposals to an arbitration panel for consideration and a binding ruling. This process is not quick and requires government involvement to appoint the arbitration board.

While we are not guaranteed to have all our asks accepted, we believe that an arbitration panel will make its recommendations based on a fair comparison with other similar services in today’s market.

Further information will be provided once we have more to share. As always, we acknowledge and appreciate your ongoing patience and support of your committee during this process.

In solidarity,

Jeremy MacKinnon, Advanced Care Paramedic Supervisor 

Matthew Carlin, Advanced Care Paramedic 

Brendon Dlouhy, Primary Care Paramedic 

Karen Caig, Labour Relations Officer and Lead Spokesperson 

Geoff Wells, Labour Relations Officer and Spokesperson