TALLINN — The quality of Estonia’s ambulance care is at stake as the government initiated talks Tuesday with the country’s emergency rescue crews to negotiate a 9 percent budget cut.

On Tuesday the emergency management workers’ union, the Estonian Rescue Board and the Minister of the Interior Marko Pomerants took place discussed the possible cutback in forces and pay reductions. The jobs of roughly 135 ambulance drivers and EMT personnel could be threatened.

According to the ROTAL union chairman Kalle Liivamägi, the government proposes to change the 12 hour schedule to 24 hour schedule with the clause saying that 22 hours of 24 will be paid and two hours is “time off.”

“If a worker had a right to leave the work place for two hours then it would be acceptable but as they do not have that right then we can’t accept it. We offered reducing the amenities by 5 percent but the opposite side refuses to listen,“ Liivamägi told Baltic Reports.

Pomerants worries that the rescue workers’ proposition to have 11 unpaid leave days in a year would mean that sometimes, instead of three rescue workers, only two would be on duty.

“The new, 24/72 hour schedule should change the situation for better when three men have to be on shift,” Pomerants told Baltic Reports. “Of course there are alternatives to cut wages more, in order to reduce work force a little less, but in my opinion the best option would be to keep the wages on the same level.”

In the opinion of Alo Tammsalu, deputy director general of the Estonian Rescue Board, reducing the wages to avoid cuts among staff is not sustainable as it would literally affect the service quality they offer to the citizens.

“The Estonian Rescue Board and the minister of the interior have to make decisions that would least affect the citizens, ” told Tammsalu. “Just last year the salaries reached more-or-less acceptable level, and this year we already had to reduce the pay through three negative budgets by 15 percent. If we’d do it again, then the wages would fall so low, that our employees would no longer be competitive. This means, that if the situation in job market should show any positive signs, then all good workers would leave their jobs.”

How many rescue workers will lose their jobs is still not known but Tammsalu hopes it will be less than 135.

Liivamägi is not so positive.

“The situation is already critical. If six cars will be sent out for rescue with only six rescuers, then everybody can see that the quality of the service is weak,” Liivamägi said.

Negotiations between the ministry, rescue board and union will continue next week.