The union that represents most 911 operators, dispatchers and support workers in British Columbia has voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action.

In a media release, CUPE local 8911, which represents E-Comm (Emergency Communications for British Columbia Incorporated) workers, said members had voted 95 per cent in favour of giving leadership a strike mandate.

“This vote reflects the reality frontline staff are facing every day,” CUPE 8911 president Donald Grant said in a statement.

“Our members are under increasing pressure, and they need an agreement that supports them and stabilizes the system.”

Members are looking for wages “reflecting the responsibility and complexity of the job” along with improved staffing levels and health and wellness supports, according to the union.

The union says it will be in a legal strike position once it has finished negotiating an essential services order that would ensure 911 services remain available to the public in the case of job action.

It has yet to issue a 72-hour strike notice.

CBC News is seeking comment from E-Comm and the Ministry of Public Safety.

E-Comm is a non-profit organization that was initially founded in the 1990s to handle emergency incidents in the Lower Mainland.

Since then, that role has expanded to include dispatching services for 33 police agencies and 40 fire departments in B.C., while members answer 99 per cent of initial 911 calls across the province, according to the union.

E-Comm says it answered more than two million 911 calls in 2025

Last year, an independent review of E-Comm conducted by Ernst and Young concluded the province needed to better define the role it plays in the province’s 911 system, including potentially taking responsibility for the sector.