Union relieved help on way after months-long shortage of 911 dispatchers

The union representing Cape Breton Regional Municipality's inside workers says it's thankful that help is finally on the way after months of operating the 911 call centre with a shortage of dispatchers.

Acting CUPE 933 president Cheryl MacDonald says the shortage has not impacted emergency services yet. But she says current workers are giving up family time to cover extra shifts and are increasingly strained.

"With not having the amount of people there, there is always a possibility for danger," she said. "Has it ever entered that level? No, because of the amazing workers that are there."

The municipality deserves credit for its efforts and recent success in finding more workers, MacDonald said.

"We are still short people," she said. "That of course is why the hiring process is going on."

The union nearly went on strike last year, in part over the shortage of 911 call centre staff.

The municipality has had a long-standing ad campaign for part-time positions, but that was not getting results.

Deputy chief administrative officer John MacKinnon said potential candidates were available, but they needed more incentive.

"By changing the posting to make it full time, we are getting a significantly larger number of candidates applying," he said.

CBRM has two new 911 dispatchers in training now and six more going through the final steps before hiring, MacKinnon said.

Another 16 candidates are being interviewed, but the municipality still wants more people to apply, because it's a rigorous process and everyone isn't cut out to be a 911 operator.

"We have lots of candidates, but it does take a period of time to go through the process and they do testing and whatnot, so we don't know how many are going to come out of the end of the process," MacKinnon said.

"The more people that we can have that have an interest in that, the better."