Ontario CUPE Windsor-Essex Paramedics Union Begins Arbitration Fight Against Vaccine Mandates

A health worker uses a needle and a vial of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to prepare a dose at a vaccination health centre in a file photo. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2974, representing paramedics and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in Windsor-Essex County, Ontario, has started the arbitration process in its legal challenge against mandatory COVID vaccine mandates in the workplace.

CUPE Paramedics of Windsor-Essex said on social media on July 11 that arbitration will begin the next day “for what will be the most comprehensive, substantive labour challenge against covid workplace mandates, seen in Ontario.”

“Where many others went through the motions, we will be fighting these coercive, immoral, contradictory policies with full force,” said the union.

Local 2974—which represents nearly 300 Essex-Windsor EMS personnel including paramedics, vulnerable patient navigators, vehicle service technicians, logistics technicians, and scheduling clerks—has been providing social media updates on the arbitration.

On July 12, it stated that day one was complete and that the employer was using “unchallenged” arguments “trapped in 2021 & in need of liberating. Relying on long outdated ’science' that the mandates/vaccines meaningfully prevent transmission.”

The local tweeted on July 13 that it has been “the most outspoken union local regarding mandates since day one, in all of Ontario; if not Canada,” and has fought for its members “every step of the way.”

The union suggested on July 14 that an asymptomatic, negative COVID-tested, unvaccinated individual “is safer in [the] workplace than [a] confirmed (tested) positive, vaccinated person.”

According to the union, the employer is arguing that rapid antigen testing as an alternative to mandatory shots is “equally as intrusive as injection foreign substance into body.”

“Yet, we allowed confirmed covid + people to continue to work because of staffing issues, while 10k healthcare workers were cast out in Ontario,” said the union.

Chief of Essex-Windsor EMS Bruce Krauter was contacted for comment by The Epoch Times but did not respond by press time. In January 2022, Mr. Krauter said the COVID vaccine policy was implemented “to protect the public and staff.”

‘Choice Free From Coercion’

In January 2022, CUPE Local 2974 said the idea that vaccine mandates prevent the spread of COVID-19 was “a beautiful, fantastical lie” and that those in support of forced shots were “authoritarian and have a propensity for evil,” reported the Windsor Star.

Later, the president of the local, James Jovanovic, a paramedic, told CBC News that the comments were meant “ironically.”

At a press conference on Nov. 10, 2021, Mr. Jovanovic said paramedics needed “to freely choose to get vaccinated.” He said at the time the union opposed forced mandates which would result in the termination of unvaccinated workers.

“While I myself and most of my members made the choice to vaccinate, we will defend all our brothers and sisters regardless of their medical choice,” he said. “I’ve had countless sleepless nights staying up on the phone speaking directly to and shedding tears with those who are being forcibly coerced into a medical treatment, which should only be a decision they make in consultation with their doctor, free from social or political pressure.”

Calling vaccine mandates “a politicized public health issues, which has caused irreparable damage to public trust,” Mr. Jovanovic said people are being “driven by fear.”

“I truly believe that have we simply treated our fellow citizens with compassion and respect and granted them the dignity of choice free from coercion, that we would have accomplished the same goal of increased vaccinations, but without the long-lasting damage to our shared communities,” he said.

According to Mr. Jovanovic, prior to implementation of the mandates, Essex Windsor EMS was already experiencing severe challenges with a significant increase in Code Blacks, which is where there are zero ambulances available to respond to 911 calls.

Mr. Jovanovic said at the time that since the mandate, the shortage of ambulances and paramedics has been “exacerbated with frequent down staffing of ambulances being taken off the road due to a lack of staff to fill them.”