MONTREAL -- Paramedics from Urgences-sante will go on strike at midnight.

Members of the Syndicat du prehospitalier - CSN will be on strike indefinitely, according to a news release issued Sunday.

Urgences-sante serves two of the most populated regions in Quebec: Montreal and Laval.

"For several months now, negotiations have been stagnant because the Treasury Board has not yet given Urgences-sante the mandates it needs to finally begin negotiating monetary demands," said president Rejean Leclerc.

"We have no choice but to increase the pressure to unlock these mandates, it's a question of respect for paramedics," he said.

At the CSN's health and social services federation (FSSS), vice-president responsible for the private sector Lucie Longchamp said that "these mandates are all the more important because, in the current renewal of all the collective agreements for paramedics in Quebec, the budget allocated to all the other ambulance companies in the province depends on the renewal of the collective agreement for Urgences-sante paramedics."

The pre-hospital sector has more than 4,000 members affiliated with the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS-CSN).

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 13, 2021.