Unions in private EMS

[INIT915 1,119]

Unions tend to be corrupt from my research into them and those that disagree look at only the personal benefits as I previously stated.

Watching Fox News and subscribing to the Tea Party Newsletter do not constitute legitimate "research."

[masterofmetal85 10]

And along with that more then likely you will never get that its people like you who often are a huge part of it not advancing.

And your comments were very personal for anyone who is unionized, particularly those of us in strong fair organizations.

The funniest of all your comments and the only one that truly made me chuckle is the one where you said you didn't take the FDNY EMS job because you had to join the union. Really? For job security, upward advancement, great retirement in EMS consideration I'd pay dues to 2 unions. But hey..keep shopping for better starting pay, etc. and your "career" which will probably end up by working for 2 to 3 privates to make any money and kill yourself to attempt to retire on peanuts.

IAFF strong and proud.

boy you sure love to judge me but hey its ok. I never applied to FDNY and turned down an opportunity I was using it as a rhetorical example and I do intend keep working for EMS be it private or maybe a hospital at some point down the line. But my main career will be as an RN hopefully working at a hospital, unfortunately being part of a union (an even worse one that openly supports Occupy wall St) I can't wait to see the list of enemies I'll be making just for opening my mouth and speaking a sentence about anti-union. If this is a foreshadowing of it I might invest in a bullet proof vest and maybe a firearm for personal defense walking to and from work in the parking lot.

[masterofmetal85 10]

Watching Fox News and subscribing to the Tea Party Newsletter do not constitute legitimate "research."

No but I guess reading the weekly newsletter from the union local is right? its all propaganda depending on who you ask

[INIT915 1,119]

boy you sure love to judge me but hey its ok. I never applied to FDNY and turned down an opportunity I was using it as a rhetorical example and I do intend keep working for EMS be it private or maybe a hospital at some point down the line. But my main career will be as an RN hopefully working at a hospital, unfortunately being part of a union (an even worse one that openly supports Occupy wall St) I can't wait to see the list of enemies I'll be making just for opening my mouth and speaking a sentence about anti-union. If this is a foreshadowing of it I might invest in a bullet proof vest and maybe a firearm for personal defense walking to and from work in the parking lot.

Really? Someone is going to shoot at you in the parking lot because you don't like Unions? Your hyperbole is even more nonsensical then your last 30 posts. (BTW, there are non-unionized hospitals.)

[INIT915 1,119]

No but I guess reading the weekly newsletter from the union local is right? its all propaganda depending on who you ask

My union doesn't even have a newsletter. Or maybe they do and they lost my address. Or maybe my union president stole so much of our money, they can't afford to mail the newsletters out. I should check on that forthwith.

[masterofmetal85 10]

Right because managments decision to cut and demote wasn't self centered and power hungary? If you go work for a company who tells you your starting pay is $25 and hour for the first year...and you set your life on that salary....and a year later instead of getting a raise they tell you sorry but your now going to make $18 hour....who's the self centered one. Not to mention from what I understand some of the cuts caused a lack of a spotter which for tight streets is a must, and was policy to have one..but yet the policy wasn't changed. And finally the last time I checked the roads were getting and in fact all did get plowed.

And there was systemic issues with preparation for such a storm. Funny how when other areas plows are overwhelmed with removal we don't get numbers of death sensationalized by the media. Why during heat waves do people not blame the city for the higher amount of deaths then for not providing air conditioning? Which heat by the way is the highest killer of all environmental factors. I'm not following your paraenthesis..but you put "I do hope there was a large amount of deaths." Huh? I mean am I missing something...I don't remember seeing walls of snow on streets..but I do remember seeing ambulances with no chains, etc. Like I said keep reading (since you say you don't watch TV). I often have to hoof it to houses I can't make it to during snow storms...you do what you must. I mean was it not so self centered and power induced that the person who is overall responsible for the city was on a tropical island and then wouldn't divulge where he was?

I meant to say I hope you do know* I don't know what roads you saw but in brooklyn queens and staten island the roads were blocked for 8+ days my block included and my dad has a heart condition so I was praying that nothing happened while we were trapped. Plus I heard of a fire or two that raged with FDNY unable to access a pump or reach the fire.

+

[masterofmetal85 10]

Do you ever ask yourself why career FFs and law enforcement officers in the NY Metro area do so well in terms of salary, benefits, work schedules, working conditions, pensions, benefits, etc.?

And then do you ask yourself why EMS workers need to work 2, 3 maybe 4 jobs and still earn less then their civil service counterparts, and all without the same benefits?

Why would you bash unions who figured out how to play the game and maybe encourage EMS to follow their lead?

FDNY EMS has a union but theyre starting medic rate is 43k and the emt rate is in the 30sK

[masterofmetal85 10]

Really? Someone is going to shoot at you in the parking lot because you don't like Unions? Your hyperbole is even more nonsensical then your last 30 posts. (BTW, there are non-unionized hospitals.)

I wouldn't be surprised. With the amount of heat I caught for a few words from you union people I could cook a turkey. Imagine in person in a work setting crossing a picket line with a bunch of angry RNs some going through menopause. I could see a bullet coming my way for that. But hey I wouldn't have integrity if I didn't stick to what I believed in. And most hospitals in nyc if not all are 1199 except for the city hospitals and the nurses have their own separate union within the hospital as I forgot the acronym.

Edited February 22, 2012 by masterofmetal85

[masterofmetal85 10]

My union doesn't even have a newsletter. Or maybe they do and they lost my address. Or maybe my union president stole so much of our money, they can't afford to mail the newsletters out. I should check on that forthwith.

I wouldn't be surprised if that actually ended up being the case then you can think back this discussion and say to yourself hey he wasn't crazy after all.

[INIT915 1,119]

I wouldn't be surprised. With the amount of heat I caught for a few words from you union people I could cook a turkey. Imagine in person in a work setting crossing a picket line with a bunch of angry RNs some going through menopause. I could see a bullet coming my way for that. But hey I wouldn't have integrity if I didn't stick to what I believed in. And most hospitals in nyc if not all are 1199 except for the city hospitals and the nurses have their own separate union within the hospital as I forgot the acronym.

"A bunch of angry RN's going through menopause." Are you serious dude?

[x129K 1,393]

Oh you're crazy regardless...crazier than a schitt house rat...but I give you credit for standing up for what you beleive in..even if you are wrong.

[FireMedic049 597]

The "Taylor Law" or the Public Employees Fair Employment Act, is NYS Civil Service Law. I can't speak if there is a federal like regulation/law. As far who is prohibited..it cites any "public employee." So in NY it would depend on what type of EMS agency it is I would suppose. I'm not sure how it works with private EMS in regard to who they go to if they cannot settle a contract or have an issue with a violation and cannot get it resolved on their own. For public employees if we have a grievance or contract issue we can go to PERB...in turn we cannot strike.

Thanks for the clarification. We have something similar in PA, typically referred to as "Act 111", that prohibits striking in exchange for binding arbitration to resolve disputes however it only covers Police and Fire. I think EMS was left out largely because when the Act was passed in 1968, EMS as we now know it was in it's infancy.

A recent decision from the Commonwealth Court in a lawsuit involving Philadelphia and it's Paramedics appears to set precedence to include municipal, single-role fire based EMS providers.

[masterofmetal85 10]

Oh you're crazy regardless...crazier than a schitt house rat...but I give you credit for standing up for what you beleive in..even if you are wrong.

why am I wrong ? because I don't agree with you ?

[x129K 1,393]

Relax bud,like I said, I may not agree with it, but I respect your opinion and sticking to your guns.....

[Guest alsfirefighter]

boy you sure love to judge me but hey its ok. I never applied to FDNY and turned down an opportunity I was using it as a rhetorical example and I do intend keep working for EMS be it private or maybe a hospital at some point down the line. But my main career will be as an RN hopefully working at a hospital, unfortunately being part of a union (an even worse one that openly supports Occupy wall St) I can't wait to see the list of enemies I'll be making just for opening my mouth and speaking a sentence about anti-union. If this is a foreshadowing of it I might invest in a bullet proof vest and maybe a firearm for personal defense walking to and from work in the parking lot.

No more then you to every union member with your broad brush. I don't know maybe its just me but I'm direct and to the point in my posts and leave nothing for anyone to wonder. You have your opinion...and I have mine with facts...but hey..that's why I'll be 46 when I can retire, have been part of actions that have stopped direct safety and working condition violations. I have no issue with you personally...I don't even know you...to be honest I could give a s*** less what your viewpoints are..they're yours...I just love debating...sometimes I even go against what I believe just to do so. It keeps you sharp. I can tell you one thing..the same thing I'm typing...anyone on here who knows me will tell you...I'll say the same to you directly. I mean after all...I served my country so people like you can be ignorant and verbalize it.

[FireMedic049 597]

I want what everyone wants but I think should realize that unions are also companies. They hire employees and go through some of the same process as corporate companies go through in terms of tax id, payroll etc and their source of income is your money....if it were a true "union" in the sense there wouldn't be a separate 3rd party company representing disgruntled employees. The disgruntled employees would represent themselves and their would be no union initiation fees and weekly dues.

Clearly you have very limited knowledge of labor unions. For example, I am an IAFF member and Executive Officer in my Local. My Local is predominately an autonomous organization, as are all IAFF locals. We are bound by the Constitution & By-laws of the IAFF, but we, the firefighters ARE the Union. We handle our own business at the local level. If there is a grievance, WE are the one's who handle it. When it's time to negotiate a contract, WE are the one's who handle it.

The IAFF and our State Associations provide a wide array of support services and other assistance, but they do not come in and "take over" and fight our battles. The disgruntled employees along with the gruntled employees directly represent themselves.

As for the matter of union dues and initiation fees.........representing the interests of the group of employees (AKA bargaining unit) often requires money to do so. In order to properly handle many grievances, consultation with a labor attorney is essential and it's pretty hard to find one that doesn't bill for their services. Union dues is what pays for the attorney's advice.

The IAFF and the State Associations do assess a monthly fee per member and IMO it's fairly nominal for what it can provide to you. These monthly fees are what provides those support services to each Local with no additional charge! I would suspect that all of the locals collect monthly union dues in excess of these two fees in order to cover their operating expenses. Whatever that amount is, the members of that Local voted to set that rate! In fact, my Local unanimously voted for a significant increase in our dues last year in order continue providing what we provide and decrease our reliance on fundraising activities for that funding.

TC doesn't need a "union" its employees are its union, they just don't realize it. If a majority of them got together and said hey we don't like the way things are happening here and tried to grab as many of other TC employees as possible and brought a request to the upper echelon and said "hey you need to pay EMTS x $ and medics x $ and we want these types of benefits. TC will obviously say no then they all say "ok fine we don't show up to work for a few days." The question is will TC be able to survive if 85-90% of their NY state workforce is AWOL, will they be able to rapidly hire and replace those 85-90% missing?

It's pretty ironic that you are advocating that employees engage in a concerted work stoppage (i.e. strike) in order to make improvements in their working conditions, but have repeatedly stated that you would cross a union strike line, that could feasibly be striking over the exact same issues as those non-union workers.

[FireMedic049 597]

My position is unions cause more harm then good as evident by more previous post regarding DSNY and the snow plowing halt.

If this is your position, then you need to much better research on the history of unions and the labor movement.

Unions tend to be corrupt from my research into them and those that disagree look at only the personal benefits as I previously stated. So in essence the object here is to combat corruption at the management level with corruption from unions. Whether you're aware and turning a blind eye or oblivious to it that is essentially what is occurring. Again nothing personal to you or any other posters here.

As I previously mentioned, I'm an Executive Officer in my Local. How am I and any other union officer or union member not supposed to take your remark personally? You just called us corrupt with no evidence to substantiate the claim for at minimum, the vast majority of us!

[FireMedic049 597]

why am I wrong ? because I don't agree with you ?

No, because you are grossly under-informed on the matters you are attempting to discuss.