Part of the issue is that our union, IAFF Local 42, has sent out an email to members threatening them with retribution if we have any public dissent on the issue. So the news can't interview anyone without risking reprisal. Don't take my word for it. Here's what the union sent out in a letter to members:
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/3943
I'd like to tell you on the record who I am and what I do at MAST, but I can't because the union will take money from my check. I do work for MAST, and have for >4 years. Nobody here understands what is going on. There's some supporters of consolidation with the fire department, but there's a lot of people who just won't sign some union-sponsored petition without having a written plan.
We asked for a written plan, but the response from the union reps was, "We're working on it." Right now, our jobs are secure. But I KNOW they won't be as secure with KCFD. My EMT friends at work are at the highest risk of layoffs. Everyone that works in the stations for KCFD is an EMT. How hard would it be to fire all the MAST EMTs and put cross/trainined KCFD EMTs in the driver's seat?
There's been so much threats and intimiation going on at work. They drag around this petition and browbeat people so sign it without any facts. If you DON'T sign it, like if you say, "Well, I want it in writing what the plan is" your name goes on a black list. So if/when we get rolled into the KCFD machine, I could see them trying to find a way to kick out anyone that wasn't a cheerleader.
It's a case of when unions screw their employees. Everything was rolling along great for the past few years until this happened. There's so much political back door dealings that I know this has nothing to do with cost. It has to do with who got paid off. I used to tell people that MAST was a great place to work. But now I tell people to steer clear with how awful it has become thanks to some aggressive and hateful union tactics. It's pretty sad when managment, who is constantly villified by our union, is more honest and reliable than the people we're paying $1,100 per YEAR to as our union dues. That's $1,100 per employee, per year. It's hundreds of thousands per year just at MAST. And this is what they do to us? Take our company out from us?
I used to support my union reps. But they've forgotten everything in the past and turned it into a vindictive smear campaign. There's people at work who won't talk to each other over this.
All they had to do was put it to a vote. Never happend. Produce the numbers on the petitions to support their claim of some massive majority. They won't.
KCFD requires residency in Kansas City, MO. 60% of us live outside the city. Try selling a house these days. See if you get anything for it. Put that in writing. Put the NO JOB LOSSES in writing. They can't. I used to be an idealist when it came to unions. I got burned so bad on this one. It's not even that I don't support changes to MAST. But I support remodeling, not a damn demolition and smoking crater left of a company.
The fire guys don't want to run EMS calls. They're fire fighters. They hate EMS. They didn't get into fire to run EMS calls. I can't blame them. They've been unusually silent on this issue. I suspect in part because they've been told to shut up too. They'd better get to liking the "penalty box" or "Meat Wagon" as they call the ambulance, because we run 85,000 calls a year. It's going to be a long, hot, summer with lots of your urban bread and butter calls.
Anyway, that's a view from the trenches. I know not all unions are awful. But ours is pretty crummy.
This is not entirely correct. We use EMD, which sucks. Everything "Code 1" like chest pain, SOA, long fall, imminent birth,cardiac arrest, etc...gets a pumper AND ambulance. Code 2 and Code 3 calls do not. So KCFD responds MAYBE 10-20% of the time. We did 350 calls the other day, but average about 280-300 as it warms up. More than 50% of the time, we beat fire to a scene. We did it with fewer trucks, we transport, and we provide on-scene care. It takes some 38+ stations to cover a smaller area than us, they have at least a 4 person pumper, but more often a 5 person pumper, truck, and in 3 stations a 7-person "rescue" truck. Those things are freaking hugely awesome, and great for KCFD, but medical trucks they're not.
I know the inner city guys HATE ems calls. Everything goes code 1 because of the "Is your breathing normal" question is always a "No." Boom, code 1, short of breath. Send the pumper at 3 am. So they run their tails off for no good reason. It's MAST's own fault as they chose EMD instead of opting for what we used to have, called "common sense."
