A suite of temporary measures to compensate overworked 911 dispatchers in B.C. will begin expiring within weeks, with no concrete commitments from the government-sanctioned company tasked to field emergency calls.
The union representing more than 500 operators and dispatch support staff says temporary enhanced pay, implemented April 22, is set to expire Sept. 21 and extra mental health supports will end in December.
Dispatchers are presently being paid enhanced wages for weekend and overnight hours ($10 per hour or $20 per hour, depending on the time). Employees also get six sessions with a mental health provider as well as “evidence-based trauma-informed psychological safety and resiliency training” to prevent “occupational stress” injuries.
At issue is overworked staff in a department that requires as much as 80% more full-time members, according to a report last year.
“The key thing is that we just don't have enough people there to be able to take the calls that are coming in,” Donald Grant, president of CUPE 8911 (Emergency Communications Professionals of B.C.), told Glacier Media Aug. 30.
“And,” added Grant, “to be able to recruit and retain — more importantly to retain staff right now — we need enhancements to the compensation package and the mental health supports, in order to be able to stabilize the staffing levels to deliver the service that British Columbians deserve.”
Grant is calling on the company, E-Comm, to make the enhanced wages and benefits permanent.
“I can’t imagine how much worse the situation would have been without them. Forced overtime is not the solution to a systemic problem. We need real and permanent solutions to make emergency communications a viable career and not a place where employees come and burn out. Serious mental health issues are causing people to leave this organization in droves, and we can’t continue to allow this to happen,” said Grant in a statement Tuesday.
Grant told Glacier Media that E-Comm presently has an “unprecedented” 28% of staff on leave.
“It's become normal nowadays to see wait times reach up to five minutes,” said Grant, noting 911 calls should be picked up in five seconds.
“So, while you're trying to deal with this very real and critical emergency that you're on the phone with, on someone's worst day of their life, you know that there's more people waiting that need your help. I mean, it's just a tremendously stressful situation,” said Grant.
911 problems were most pronounced during the 2021 “heat dome” that killed over 600 British Columbians. Wait times to reach police during this time reached around 45 minutes, according to the union.
A 2021 audit report from PricewaterhouseCoopers called for 125 new full-time dispatchers, to add to the 153 existing ones, and $20 million in additional funding over the next five years, starting this year.
E-Comm is largely funded by the municipalities it services for police and fire emergency calls, plus BC Emergency Health Services, for ambulances.
To date, there is no commitment to extend the benefits.
“We know it has been another challenging summer for our staff, particularly our call takers and dispatchers, and want to acknowledge the toll this continued need for regular overtime can have,” stated E-Comm spokesperson Kaila Butler in a statement that also acknowledged forced overtime has occurred on 13 occasions since June 1.
Glacier Media has asked E-Comm how many staff have been hired since the 2021 report and how many more dispatchers are presently needed.
