"Starting pay for emergency medical technicians, frontline responders who are among the city’s lowest-paid workers, is currently equivalent to $18.94 an hour.

Anthony Almojera, the vice president of Uniformed EMS Officers Union Local 3621, said he’s lost eight members to suicide in the last three years, and that some members are homeless.

The majority of EMS workers in the city, Barzilay and Almojera said, are women and people of color. 

The gaps in pay between EMTs and uniformed firefighters are so wide that in December 2021 the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determined that the city “discriminated against current and former first responders of the FDNY’s EMS, based on race and sex … with respect to pay, benefits and terms and conditions of employment” and urged City Hall to remediate the issues.

The pay discrepancies, Barzilay and Almojera say, exist because their members are compensated as civilian workers, despite their status as uniformed officers, like firefighters and police officers, and despite facing many of the same risks on the job. In 2020, City Council passed a resolution for EMS to be paid the same as firefighters, but the city has not taken action, as noted in the class-action suit."

Most may disagree but the 96 merger was a bad idea and I honestly believe this is why there will always be hoops to jump through for any progress in the bureau of EMS.

[removed]

Never forget de Blasios “EMS work is different work” quote.

Every grown adult in the city making less than $20 an hour needs to go on strike.

[deleted]