The Emergency Communications Professionals at E-Comm 9-1-1 are often out of sight and out of mind until you really need them. When your life is on the line, seconds count, and CUPE 8911 members are the ones there to answer your call for help – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
But right now, BC’s 9-1-1 system, and frontline emergency communications professionals, are facing serious challenges. Workers are facing extremely concerning rates of mental health burnout, occupational stress injuries, and forced overtime due to frontline staffing deficits.
E-Comm’s worst service-level performance of 2025 occurred in December, only narrowly meeting its average service standard of answering 95% of calls within 5 seconds. Approximately 6,700 calls to 9-1-1 exceeded that 5-second answer threshold, and a police emergency call waited over 4.5 minutes for help on Christmas night.
Just picture it – it’s Christmas day, your home is being broken into, and you’re waiting 4.5 minutes for someone to answer your call.
The current system isn’t sustainable and action is needed to ensure that British Columbians have the 9-1-1 service they need and deserve.
In this round of bargaining, we are pushing for practical, evidence-based solutions to stabilize the 9-1-1 system, including wage increases that reflect the responsibility and complexity of the work, staffing levels that reduce burnout and forced overtime, and mental health supports that keep experienced workers on the job.
E-Comm’s leadership needs to prioritize funding the front line and making the changes needed to strengthen the province’s emergency communications system. If we don’t find solutions to the current challenges the system is facing, it will continue to struggle.
Together we can make sure British Columbians have the 9-1-1 service they deserve.