Paramedic pressure tactics: Employers ask the courts to intervene

FILE PHOTO. (Daniel J. Rowe / CTV News Montreal)

Ambulance companies and cooperatives are asking the courts to intervene just hours before the start of new pressure tactics by paramedics who are members of unions affiliated with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN).

Starting Monday night through to Tuesday, paramedics with the Health and Social Services Federation (FSSS), affiliated with the CSN, have said they will refuse to provide on-call hours to private staffing agencies throughout Quebec.

In some regions, paramedics are being told by their union federation to refuse to work overtime.

The FSSS says it intends to eventually extend this refusal to work overtime to other regions if negotiations to renew the collective bargaining agreements are unsuccessful.

The new pressure tactics come on top of a strike that has been ongoing for more than 11 months.

However, it has received little public attention as most of the duties performed by paramedics are considered essential services.

Nevertheless, employers in the ambulance sector have filed a petition with the Administrative Labour Tribunal, which already issued a ruling last July regarding essential services to be maintained during the strike.

They argue, in particular, that the newly announced pressure tactics violate the Tribunal’s ruling.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 22, 2026.