Come to think of it, I have a lot of misgivings about union shops, as well. But these medics paid their dues, and were apparently happy with their union representation. Now the city of Filthydelphia, in an apparent move to weaken the firefighter’s union in future collective bargaining agreements, has used the apparently tame Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board as their Halligan tool to engage in a little union-busting.

That’s the kind of shady politics that would be right at home in Louisiana… during the Huey P. Long administration.

Posted by Ambulance Driver on October 9, 2010 • Filed under: Uncategorized

divemedic

Even though we disagree, I understand that you do not think that paramedics who are also firefighters cannot possibly be as good as paramedics who are not firefighters, because training time is split between fire and EMS.

What I can’t understand is how paramedics who work for the fire department but have no firefighting duties any different or less skilled than a city EMS department?
Anonymous

Point of clarification: My beef with fire-based EMS is that I believe that for most people, attaining mastery of both disciplines is an unreachable goal. I believe it is possible to be competent at both, but except for a very few talented individuals, it’s hard to serve both masters equally well.

that, and my observation of many of the larger fire/EMS systems is that the hierarchy is dominated by fire suppression types, and the departments view EMS as a means to an end, and not their core mission. And like it or not, when your calls skew 80/20 for EMS versus fire suppression, EMS is your core mission.

So that’s my beef with fire-based EMS. I never claimed that single-role medics in a fire-based system were any less skilled that 3rd service EMS medics. On the contrary, I sympathize with them because their promotional paths are often limited, or the firefighter brethren often treat them as second-class citizens in their own firehouses. There are still major fire/EMS systems in this country where the medics are unwelcome in some parts of their own firehouses.

I think that the Philadelphia situation is crappy because the municipal government is trying to carve out the single-role medics from the firefighters union to strengthen the city’s bargaining position. It’s dirty politics, pure and simple.
http://thesocialmedic.net Dave Konig

There is definitely more behind this than weakening the Fire Department’s union. Their union in Philly is probably the weakest of the civil service unions as it is. I think it’s ultimately more about budgets and trying to limit their liability by opening EMS up to hospital based providers.

I left a comment on that post about that, because undoubtedly the author is in fire suppression and seems a tad bitter about medics making 10% more than firefighters… even though they do 87% more work according to the 2007 statistics in Philly.

The really big losers are the union, who lost about 140k a year with this move. That’s at least two trips to Aruba their leadership won’t be able to pay for now.

Boo freaking hoo.
Itsgabriela

A nice Huey P reference. Dont forget about his brother, who ran the state as gov from a mental institution
Anonymous

As old Earl K. was fond of saying, most people tell you they’re not crazy, but he had a piece of paper to prove it.
NeedleNerd

Shame that Pilly would do something like that. How paramedics that drive ambulances that say “Philedelphia fire” on the side of them are considered anything other that part of the fireman’s union is beyond me…
Matt G

I’m not a fan of unionized city employees, and I’m a street-level city employee. I think the claim that “The City Of Philidelphia has declared war on the fire department” is a little over-the-top. I didn’t see that they lost anything besides union representation; everything else is just frozen. Look. Times are tough all over. You know how long it’s been since I got a raise?
Anonymous

It does, but this is, yet again, all about the almighty dollar, and not about taking care of the people (either EMS or the patients).
Too Old To Work

Most liberals are all about unions, for other people. Big city mayors in general, while praising private sector unions, do everything they can to undermine the unions that represent the people who work for them. OTOH, the liberal media praises public sector unions, but does everything that they can to bust the ones that represent their workers. It’s all about the media spin for liberals, who in reality care only about the non working man (and woman) and work diligently to expand their entitlements at the expense of people who actually work for a living.
PhillyLT

Several years ago a few Philly medics filed a lawsuit against the city claiming that they were improperly paid for their overtime. They worked the same schedule as firefighters, whose work week was based on a 4 on – 4 off schedule, resulting in anywhere between a 32 to 48 hour work week. The medics won their suit, which ended up at the USSC level. The city paid roughly 4 million in back overtime and penalties. Most of the medics who filed that suit have since left the job.

The city has since won a decision by the PA labor board that medics are not able to be covered under state act 111, which forbids “Policemen” and “Firemen” from striking in return for binding interest arbitration. The city claims that this means they may no longer belong to their union, which immediately results in a huge decrease in medical benefits. it also means that the medics are totally exposed to these decisions made by a vengeful mayor, who is obviously out to make the medics “pay” for the audacity of winning a lawsuit against they city.