EMS Strike Still On

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Industrial action by employees of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division in the Ministry of Health continued for a sixth straight day on Monday with no end in sight, despite intervention efforts by the country’s attorney general.

The 16 protesting staff members are expected to continue their work stoppage today by assembling, alternately, outside EMS headquarters or near the north gate to the Prime Minister’s office nearby, or at the headquarters of their bargaining agent, the Antigua Trades and Labour Union (AT&LU) at 46 North Street.

Health Minister Willmoth Daniel decided against a proposed meeting with the AT&LU. Minister Daniel is said to have tentatively agreed to the meeting in a conversation the previous day with the union’s representative Ralph Potter.

But Daniel had made clear that this was conditional on him ascertaining whether EMS is classified as an essential service, which would make the work stoppage illegal under the country’s laws.

Daniel holds to the view of Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer that granting audience to participants in an unlawful strike would legitimise their action and give the appearance of caving in to duress.

The health minister on Monday referred the matter to Attorney General Justin Simon, who promised to discuss it with Cabinet when it meets either today or tomorrow, and then meet with the union after.

In the meantime, Simon made the same request of the unionised protesters that had previously been issued by Spencer and Daniel – return to work while the matter is being addressed.

Potter said the workers agreed to this in principle, but progress stalled when they stated one condition: the administrative leave on which EMS supervisor Linton Paul was placed last week should be rescinded.

This was promptly rejected by the Health Minister, who considers the matter involving Paul to be a separate issue, not to be mixed with the grievances that led to the ongoing industrial action.

It is a position that Attorney General Justin Simon supports, although it does not seem that the EMS workers’ refusal to acquiesce will deter him from bringing the matter to Cabinet. Potter, for his part, is still counting on the AG meeting with him on Wednesday after Cabinet.

Simon is convinced that even if it is not specifically named in the Essential Services Act, EMS cannot be anything but an essential service, if one considers that hospital services as a whole fall under that classification.

“I am putting a rather broad interpretation on hospital services,” he said, noting that one of EMS’ key functions is to operate ambulances and transport sick and injured people to hospital, after providing them with basic life support.

Asked whether he would, in light of this, be seeking to make the legislation more specific in actually naming EMS as an essential service, Simon replied: “I may very well do so, because it appears that everybody wants things to be down in black and white.”

Meanwhile the EMS division continues to make do with its remaining staff, supported by personnel from the fire department and defense force.