This article appears in the online version of the Daily News Los Angeles. It was reported on May 1 2008 by Jerry Berrios, Staff Writer.
The strike involving nearly 300 paramedics and emergency medical technicians in the Antelope, Santa Clarita and San Gabriel valleys has ended.
AMR, a private ambulance company that contracts with Los Angeles County, and the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics came to a tentative labor agreement Wednesday night.
"The strike is over," said AMR spokesman Jason Sorrick. "Our employees are coming back to work. We are moving forward, and we will continue to provide the best emergency service to the citizens we serve."
According to AMR, the agreement calls for employees' wages to increase by 20 percent over the next four years, retroactive to November 2007. The company also will not make any changes to employee health-care benefits through December.
"I believe that the contract is fair and equitable," said Matthew Levy, national director of the IAEP.
Levy said the contract addresses most of the workers' concerns. Instead of the 6 percent annual raise workers wanted, they are getting 5 percent. Instead of having AMR the company paying 80 percent of health-care costs, it AMR is paying 75 percent of the premium employee health-care plan.
"It was worthwhile as we got some of the concessions we wanted," Levy said.
The workers went on strike at 8 a.m. Monday. Pickets gathered at the AMR stations in Lancaster and Irwindale. AMR brought in employees from other areas of California, Oregon and Missouri to operate ambulances.
The majority of the employees returned to work Thursday and the remainder will come back to work today.
County officials monitored the strike through conference calls with AMR management and others, e-mail with firefighters and verifying ambulance worker credentials at area hospitals.
"We are very pleased that the work action is over," said Cathy Chidester, acting director of L.A. County's Emergency Medical Services Agency. "We think it was handled well by all affected parties."
It goes to show what Paramedics can do when they wiggle in a collective fashion. Good job guys from The Apocalypse Papers!
~Vale~
Showing posts with label Strike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strike. Show all posts
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
AMR Employees Strike Looms on May 2
Paramedics in California do not want your sympathy; they want a fair and equitable wage so they can afford healthcare premiums and not qualify for food stamps. I don’t think this is asking for too much. As a veteran Paramedic I know what my fellow Medics are experiencing. Year after year, more and more advanced skills are added to our repertoire of life saving techniques but our pay remains the same. The ambulance services want you to run hard, document properly, and transport, transport, transport. They do not want complaints or complainers or increase the pay scale. I applaud the 300 union members. Don’t stop until you get what you want. It is sad that Medics are abandoning the ambulance services for nursing so they can make a good wage and not work as hard as a bonus. Hell, it takes 2 years to be a Paramedic and 2 years to be a RN; now do the math. A Medic makes 10.50-18.00 an hour out of school; the RN makes 26.00-35.00 an hour. Which one would you choose? Besides nurses don’t carry morbidly obese patient down steps, recover mangled body parts or venture into crack houses looking for seizure patients. They only stop at motorcycle wrecks to lend assistance and call 911 for the…you guessed it, the Paramedics….contrary to the Johnson and Johnson commercial. Believe me, I would hang drugs, turn patients, do am and pm care and then chart all day if it meant I didn’t have to see one more patient mangled beyond recognition or miss one more school play.
Now, I think the pending strike is a “Low Press” event, because the public does not know what jobs EMT’s actually perform, they honestly believe we are a nonessential part of Public Safety. We don’t possess the neat regalia of leather and helmets, or gun belts and body armor. So Paramedics are practically invisible.
In current events, A Paramedic lost her right arm while responding to a call. The ambulance she was riding in hit a parked vehicle on the side of the road. Her name is Bonnie Ames she lost it responding on a call. Donate, I did.
In current events, Paramedics and EMT’s are scouring the grounds in Virginia after the night of Tornados. They will be tired, focused and committed to their job. There will be no sleep, there will only be pain and some of those Medics have families and children who need help with homework and
Every time SWAT goes to a stand off, Fire Fighters fall off a ladder or a drunken Physician wrecks their car you can find a Paramedic. Wreck your SUV press the blue OnStar button and OnStar calls Paramedics, press your call alert button because you slid out of bed, alert company Paramedics, slip on a sidewalk and break your leg, have a stroke, bursitis flares up, overdose on Lortab, Paramedic, Paramedic, Paramedic, Paramedic…are you getting the picture. Let’s face it we are a necessary evil. I know we are as innocuous as a television remote, but if you can’t find us, just like a remote, there is desperate search and just like the remote we can change things rather quickly. And for these facts alone there should be a consensus for those 300 Medics in California. AMR pay them, give them their pay increase and a break on the health insurance they
~Vale~
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Paramedic Strike Looms
The article below appears in The Signal Santa Clarita Valley. It was reported and written by Signal Staff Writer Katherine Geyer.
About 60 paramedics and emergency medical technicians working in the Santa Clarita Valley are preparing to go on strike beginning May 2, a union official said late Monday afternoon.
The union representing the 300 Los Angeles-area American Medical Response employees rejected the company's proposal Monday afternoon and today the union will begin writing up its notice to strike.
The union asked for improved wages and increases in the employer's contribution toward health insurance, said Matthew Levy, national director of the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics.
AMR had not yet prepared a response to the outcome of the negotiations late Monday afternoon, but AMR spokesman Douglas Moore said earlier Monday, "We are prepared to provide services if they do strike."
Moore could not discuss details about the contract, but said in a statement, "AMR is committed to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement that is fair and equitable to all parties."
AMR is contracted with Los Angeles County to provide emergency services countywide. The strike would affect employees in the Santa Clarita, Antelope and San Gabriel valleys.
Since the contract with the union expired last September, the union has signed multiple extensions as negotiations continued. When the union rejected an offer on April 6, union members voted to authorize a strike.
The contract's language regarding health insurance was Levy's biggest concern on Monday, he said.
Employees hired since 2004 must pay for 35 percent of their health insurance and the union asked that employees pay 20 percent, he said.
"Our members are health care professionals that take care of sick people all the time," Levy said. "With the way AMR is paying them and providing them with health insurance, they themselves can't afford to be sick."
Switching to a self-insured insurance plan, in which AMR would contract with an insurance provider, could mean larger co-payments and deductibles for employees, he said.
The union had also asked for wage increases beginning at 9 percent. Levy said Monday's proposed 5 percent wage increase was "not even close."
He said EMTs who have been working more than a year typically receive $9.50 an hour.
"Starting wages in that division are just substandard and non-livable," he said.
As health care professionals, the employees are required to give a 10-day notice of a strike. The union will instead be giving a 20-day notice.
"We would love not to have to do this because people are so passionate about the work that they do," Levy said. "As a union, while we are committed to tightening up on AMR, we are committed to public safety ... We believe AMR will be able to rely upon other companies in the area."
Although the union will be issuing its intent to strike, Levy said he remains optimistic the two parties will resolve the issue before May 2.
"We're always willing to talk," he said.
Levy said that although the workers plan to picket, it is unlikely they would do so in Santa Clarita because it is a small operation locally. He said the union will be encouraging Santa Clarita members to join the picketing at the larger Antelope Valley or Irwindale offices.
Paramedics are paid less than most CNA’s but perform a job almost on the level of a PA. Why is this so? My personal opinion is that Paramedics as a whole do not present a united front to the commercial EMS industry. In essence, it is easier to work two jobs than to be blacklisted, and thus labeled a troublemaker, for trying to start a union. I have survived in this pitiful industry for 20 years and have seen the goings on when Paramedics have tried to voice their concerns, request basic benefits and comparable pay. And to this day Paramedics in some areas of Alabama only make 10.50 an hour. Is this fair? I know I made a bad career choice but when I leave the field who will replace me? Personally, I don’t care; my family already has a Paramedic living with them. And the last Paramedic class I proctored had only 3 students and all three applied for nursing school. Is it fair that the people who start I.V’s on AIDS patients and are exposed to noise pollution, sleep deprivation and physical pain from lifting the metabolically challenged make less than the people who mop the floors in any given hospital? Hell No! So I say strike Paramedics strike and maybe someone on this side of the Mississippi will grow some balls.
~Vale~
About 60 paramedics and emergency medical technicians working in the Santa Clarita Valley are preparing to go on strike beginning May 2, a union official said late Monday afternoon.
The union representing the 300 Los Angeles-area American Medical Response employees rejected the company's proposal Monday afternoon and today the union will begin writing up its notice to strike.
The union asked for improved wages and increases in the employer's contribution toward health insurance, said Matthew Levy, national director of the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics.
AMR had not yet prepared a response to the outcome of the negotiations late Monday afternoon, but AMR spokesman Douglas Moore said earlier Monday, "We are prepared to provide services if they do strike."
Moore could not discuss details about the contract, but said in a statement, "AMR is committed to bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement that is fair and equitable to all parties."
AMR is contracted with Los Angeles County to provide emergency services countywide. The strike would affect employees in the Santa Clarita, Antelope and San Gabriel valleys.
Since the contract with the union expired last September, the union has signed multiple extensions as negotiations continued. When the union rejected an offer on April 6, union members voted to authorize a strike.
The contract's language regarding health insurance was Levy's biggest concern on Monday, he said.
Employees hired since 2004 must pay for 35 percent of their health insurance and the union asked that employees pay 20 percent, he said.
"Our members are health care professionals that take care of sick people all the time," Levy said. "With the way AMR is paying them and providing them with health insurance, they themselves can't afford to be sick."
Switching to a self-insured insurance plan, in which AMR would contract with an insurance provider, could mean larger co-payments and deductibles for employees, he said.
The union had also asked for wage increases beginning at 9 percent. Levy said Monday's proposed 5 percent wage increase was "not even close."
He said EMTs who have been working more than a year typically receive $9.50 an hour.
"Starting wages in that division are just substandard and non-livable," he said.
As health care professionals, the employees are required to give a 10-day notice of a strike. The union will instead be giving a 20-day notice.
"We would love not to have to do this because people are so passionate about the work that they do," Levy said. "As a union, while we are committed to tightening up on AMR, we are committed to public safety ... We believe AMR will be able to rely upon other companies in the area."
Although the union will be issuing its intent to strike, Levy said he remains optimistic the two parties will resolve the issue before May 2.
"We're always willing to talk," he said.
Levy said that although the workers plan to picket, it is unlikely they would do so in Santa Clarita because it is a small operation locally. He said the union will be encouraging Santa Clarita members to join the picketing at the larger Antelope Valley or Irwindale offices.
Paramedics are paid less than most CNA’s but perform a job almost on the level of a PA. Why is this so? My personal opinion is that Paramedics as a whole do not present a united front to the commercial EMS industry. In essence, it is easier to work two jobs than to be blacklisted, and thus labeled a troublemaker, for trying to start a union. I have survived in this pitiful industry for 20 years and have seen the goings on when Paramedics have tried to voice their concerns, request basic benefits and comparable pay. And to this day Paramedics in some areas of Alabama only make 10.50 an hour. Is this fair? I know I made a bad career choice but when I leave the field who will replace me? Personally, I don’t care; my family already has a Paramedic living with them. And the last Paramedic class I proctored had only 3 students and all three applied for nursing school. Is it fair that the people who start I.V’s on AIDS patients and are exposed to noise pollution, sleep deprivation and physical pain from lifting the metabolically challenged make less than the people who mop the floors in any given hospital? Hell No! So I say strike Paramedics strike and maybe someone on this side of the Mississippi will grow some balls.
~Vale~
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