CUPE 8911 members have launched an ambitious public campaign to raise awareness about critical underfunding and staff shortages at E-Comm 9-1-1. The campaign exposes that recent long wait times and unanswered emergency calls are symptomatic of an understaffed and underfunded service.

At our 40th Annual General Meeting, delegates voted to endorse CUPE 8911's Seconds Count campaign.

E -Comm 9-1-1 is understaffed and stretched thin, causing emergency wait times to grow

A recent report commissioned by E-Comm concluded that the company is hampered by an understaffed system and recommends that the current roster of 153 full-time call takers and other staff needs to increase by 125 to meet public demand.

CUPE 8911 is calling for both an immediate infusion of financial resources into E-Comm to right size the operations and a coordinated effort by municipalities to update the organization’s funding formula to prevent future crises.

The Solution:

Funding for more staff: E-Comm 9-1-1 urgently needs more 911 Operators to answer calls immediately when you are having an emergency. Without more funding from the municipalities that own it, E-Comm will continue to lose staff—and 9-1-1 hold times will get much worse.

Building a new funding model: The system is broken. Public safety is at stake. We need the provincial government to work with municipalities to protect this critical service by re-evaluating the long-term viability of E-Comm’s funding model. Urgent action is needed now to protect public safety and the 9-1-1 operators who answer the calls that save lives.

Training and Mental Health Support: With 9-1-1 operators already stretched to their limits due to extreme understaffing, E-Comm needs to provide more proper training and mental health support to prevent an already bad situation from getting worse.

Take Action Today

Are you willing to wait on hold when your life, or your loved ones life is on the line? Add your voice to the calls to ensure E-Comm 9-1-1's Operators are there when you need them. Take action now.