mtnmedic

"You want some Versed to go with that?" :roll:

Never, never, never "test" or challenge a veteran Paramedic (i.e., ask complex medical questions out of the blue) to help illustrate to others you know more than he/she does or to trip him/her up on something to prove some rhetorical point. This goes hand-in-hand with knowing it all and making sure others are aware of it. That not only ticks off the medics, it really bugs the crap outta everybody and is a surefire way to alienate yourself. And NEVER get into a pissing contest with a Paramedic over things like procedures, protocols, experiences, etc. You may be up to speed on one or two things, but a seasoned Paramedic has a unique "in the real world" perspective as an ALS provider you more than likely won't have. None of us are perfect and we rely heavily upon good EMTs to get us through at times. As a good EMT, you should have humility, accept a certain amount of fear/emotion, take constructive criticism well, know your limitations, be willing to learn and show respect, especially toward someone who has been in EMS longer than you have been alive. Yes, we're not necessarily smarter. We're just a bit wiser. "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." -- Mark Twain ...

This is my first post here, so please go easy on me. I am a a career Paramedic who has been in EMS for 25 years. I work for a private ambulance company in Sacramento, CA. My company has two divisions, a really small non-emergency one in Sacramento and a rather large 9-1-1 division throughout all of Solano County. NEMSA came to us about 1.5 years ago. Both divisions voted for and certified NEMSA to represent them individually (rather than together as a single large unit). I started working here just after NEMSA got started in our division. Everything seemed positive and upward-bound particularly because NEMSA touted their dedication toward EMS needs, which is something LONG overdue for folks like us in the private sector. In the beginning, the union's co-founders, Torren Colcord and Tim Bonifay, along with the vice-president Aaron Pelican, met with us employees directly and rather frequently. The employees and NEMSA drafted a rather impressive contract to propose. Then came the negotiations. In the second full negotiation session, the employer's attorney said they would be standing pat with the terms of the previous union's contract (expired). To my surprise, the NEMSA rep (henceforth Tim Bonifay), quickly acquiesced and we went forward with negotiating a sort of hybrid contract between what we developed and what the company wanted to stick with. The rationale was to obtain a quick settlement as opposed to duking it out over a long period for what we really wanted. This was in particular deference to the fact that our 5% raises in April were postponed (with NO retro) in favor of pursuing a higher percentage NEMSA felt we could get. Then there was a two-month delay during which-literally-nothing got done. While Tim Bonifay was supposedly out working on fine-tuning our contract negotiating points and getting information regarding insurance, we heard nothing from him. During that period, there was one negotiation meeting scheduled in which he never showed up. No call for heads-up. No email. No nothing. In fact, OUR negotiating team member employees had to track him down to find out what was going on. In a subsequent meeting, Tim called two hours before it was to start and say that he couldn't attend. This was the first in a series of disappointing and shocking actions by NEMSA. After more delays, the employees complained to Torren and Aaron regarding the lack of representation, citing his prolonged absence and lack of communication. Furthermore, the employees found out that NEMSA would be charging no less than $26, possibly $30 and more, a month for union dues. Why this wasn't discussed up front in the first place is beyond me. Anyway, that set off the EMTs because they make practically peanuts, especially the part-time folks. Then we found out that Torren and Aaron were both also working for AMR, our largest and most serious competitor in Sacramento County. This to us seemed a grave conflict of interest. More and more, we began to have serious concerns about NEMSA's ability to function professionally. We discovered that Tim attempted-at least once or twice-to get our manager to quickly sign the contract we had discussed up to that point and "get it over with" behind our backs when the two of them met up during other union matters (keep in mind all this time they were in negotations regarding Solano County employees' contract). Our manager declined, saying she felt it wasn't right because the action would have circmvented the employees' negotiating team knowledge and participatin (she smartly recognized that would have caused her more trouble than for NEMSA). That, plus the limited, wishy-washy representation we were getting, prompted a series of discussions pertaining to possible de-certification of NEMSA. Torren and Aaron suggested we hold an in-house vote and they would gracefully "bow out" if the employees decided not to retain them. This was said at a shop meeting with the majority of employees attending. So, a vote was held and by a 1-point margin, it was decided we didn't want NEMSA after all. Sadly, NEMSA didn't back out gracefully as they promised. In fact, they basically had told the management that no such statement was made by them, essentially implicating a dozen people as liars. This ruffled our feathers even more. As the weeks went by we waited patiently for the certification date to arrive in order to apply to the National Labor Relations Board for de-certification. Weeks became months. During that time, nobody on the negotiating team received any phone calls or emails from anyone at NEMSA. This was despite the last thing NEMSA needed was for everyone in Solano County to find out that our tiny little Sacramento division gave them the boot. After all, it seemed, we were the ones who stood to gain the most out of having a union. During this long period of silence, we learned that our Solano County counterparts have been (and continue) paying $30 to $40 a month in union dues for nearly a year WITHOUT A CONTRACT. Yes, NEMSA continues to collect dues when they're technically not supposed to. Then we learned that Tim got up and walked out of a contract session at least once all flustered, etc. under the pressure of questions and concerns aired. We had been hearing a lot of interesting and appalling things occurring in Solano County with regard to NEMSA. Unfortunately, our fellow employees there are still diving headlong into whatever NEMSA says they stand to gain. We have heard and still hear that it's looking more and more like a strike is on the horizon. Well, a strike DID happen at Piner's Ambulance in Napa County at the behest of NEMSA and failed negotiations. That was settled a while ago and, from what I've heard, it sounds like the employees there didn't actually gain much of anything. Oh, the icing on the cake: AMR, a fellow NEMSA unit, was kicking overflow calls to local competitors in our county who are NOT members of NEMSA and NEMSA didn't say a word to them. In fact, someone at NEMSA said "There's nothing we can do about it." During that time, we lost some business. Here's another interesting point: I recently discussed with my boss in retrospect what we all went through here and she mentioned a discussion she had with Torren some time ago. She brought up to him the possibility that our company could eventually bid for the lucrative local 9-1-1 contracts in the future and asked him if he, as NEMSA, would back our company up at that time. He said "no" (essentially because of his ties with AMR). If THAT didn't kick us in the seat of our pants...after all, ours is a much older -albeit smaller- established operation in this area (since 1979, in place long before AMR even existed!). The certification date came and went so we contacted the NLRB and filed or application for de-certification. The NLRB informed NEMSA but got no reply for a very long time. After the hearing date was pushed back and more waiting, NEMSA finally sent a letter withdrawing their interest in representing our Sacramento division. So by default, we are no longer represented by NEMSA or anyone else. Interestingly, we as employees have approached our boss and have accomplished some good things in negotiating with her directly. We FINALLY-just now- got the really nice raise (though not retro) we wanted that NEMSA couldn't get for us (it all stalled at 5%, which was the rock bottom). Things are moving forward once again and we're all happier and less stressed here. Meanwhile, we've learned that NEMSA's Aaron Pelican has been showing up for the negotiation meetings and not saying a single word. He just sits there, taking notes and NOT making eye contact with anyone. In fact-and this is very interesting-NEMSA has HIRED AN OUTSIDE INDEPENDENT ATTORNEY to speak for them at these meetings. It appears NEMSA won't even speak for itself and our fellow employees are paying for this??? Aren't NEMSA negotiators supposedly "experienced attorneys who will represent you" as advertised in their brochures and web site? Apparently, our counterparts in Solano County are blind, stupid or just brainwashed by NEMSA because they're going along with it and a bunch of other amazingly unrealistic stuff without saying anything (that we know of). Apparently, from what we heard, they turned down our company's offer of 16% in favor of something much more lucrative. Wow. Hell, even 5% is better than what most people get! All the meanwhile, Torren Colcord cuts himself well over $100,000 in salary from union dues collected AND retros himself another amount of well over $100,000. I believe this is in addition to whatever he's earned (or earning) from AMR. Plus he's obtained a Hummer or two for himself and/or some other significant person connected to NEMSA. Interestingly, the October 6th, 2006 Sacramento Business Journal reports that Torren was found by a court to be liable for fraud, trade-secret theft, breach of fiduciary duty and unfair business practices when he started NEMSA while working for SEIU. The decision also names Tim Bonifay (co-founder) and one other person and will order Tim and Torren to each pay back more than $40,000 in pay and benefits, plus levies $60,000 in punitive damages against Torren. This is on top of a potential order for the three defendants to pay SEIU back some $300,000. Tim has disassociated himself from NEMSA and he's supposedly lost his home and his car, etc. beause of getting shafted by NEMSA. Now, NEMSA is really struggling with PR and keeping other bargaining units from slipping through their fingers. AMR, their biggest group with over 2,500 workers in Northern California, narrowly rejected the first proposed contract from them in June. NEMSA re-tooled the contract deal and made it a little sweeter to the employees. New ballots were sent out for voting on the contract again. They were due back just two days ago, so it'll be interesting to see what the results are. We hear rumblings that AMR employees now may want to get out from under NEMSA as well. In fact, when hints of a potential strike could have occurred in our division (or even in Solano County, for that matter), NEMSA told all of us that we'd nothing to worry about because they would find jobs for us - with AMR. Funny, but that's about the same thing they told the Piner's folks. In fact, when Piner's was at strike, guess which outside ambulance service it was who got to run Piner's non-emergency stuff instead of the already established mutual aid company (us)? AMR. I mean, who is NEMSA REALLY working for? Not everything I have mentioned here is definitive or complete. It's just what I can say in a nutshell. I write this because -while I think an EMS-dedicated union is a GOOD thing, NEMSA itself is NOT. I just hope that what I -and others- say can provide some insight as to the dangers involved with becoming a part of NEMSA. While they're really not bad people, they just don't know what the hell they're doing. I've found out that they've not even had any formal board meetings! We're sad that our brothers and sisters in Solano County are following NEMSA blindly into the abyss but that's their choice. Hopefully others will think with more caution before falling foot loose and head long into the hype that is NEMSA. Yeah, our wages, bennies and working conditions in the private sector suck to no end, but I would MUCH rather we not fork out an additional $30-$40 a month (and more plus headaches) for the same, marginally better, or worse! Thanks for letting me stand on my little soap box in your town square today.