Union Affiliations

[Richard B the EMT]

Most of those who suffer through my missives know I am a member of Local 2507 (Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics, and Fire Inspectors of the Fire Department of New York City), of District Council (DC) 37, of the AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees).

I will always emphasize the "Uniformed", as it puts us into a different bargaining "unit", separated from others within DC 37, that are not considered "uniformed". I will use as examples, sewer workers, highway maintainers, park forestry maintainers, and those who clean and sweep the floors of city office buildings and hospitals.

Local 2507 hopes to, someday, get pay parity with the Fire Fighters of the FDNY, and/or the Police Officers of the NYPD, or at least higher pay, period, without having to give back such things as medical coverage, vacation days, or sick days.

Local 2507 President Patrick J. Bahnken always tells us that negotiating with the City of New York is a slow ongoing process, never a revelation. Our pay is, at least, slowly going up.

As for those who dislike unions, what if you worked for a boss who arbitrarily could decide if you were going to work for the next 36 hours, but only pay you for 10? If you complained that you should get paid for all those hours worked, that was considered insubordination, and get you fired without any pay at all, and possibly "blacklisted" with any companies doing similar work for the next 3 states around. There was a line made the rounds,

If you don't come in Saturday or Sunday, don't bother coming in Monday!

Unions got started, and the bosses found that they couldn't do that any more. People started getting better pay, worked under better working conditions, and even started having affordable medical insurance available for themselves and their families.

Can you imagine how different the classic story would have been, if Bob Cratchet had been a unionized secretary working for Ebenezer Scrooge?

Admittedly, there are still problems. The Air Traffic Controllers wanted better working conditions and higher pay, some struck, a few stayed on duty.

President Ronald Reagan fired the entire bunch of them, including those who stayed at their radar screens instead of picketing outside.

All members of DC 37 work for New York City, or New York State. We have something called the "Taylor Law", which enables the city (or the state) to penalize anyone who strikes, no matter what the strike is about, 2 days pay for any days out on strike. I reproduce the law here, and open the floor for discussion.

New York State Public Employees Fair Employment Act - The Taylor Law

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What Is It?

The Public Employees Fair Employment Act, commonly known as the Taylor Law, is a labor relations statute covering most public employees in New York State-- whether employed by the State, or by counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts, public authorities or certain special service districts. It became effective September 1, 1967 and was the first comprehensive labor relations law for public employees in the State, and among the first in the United States. It is the legal foundation used by GOER in its negotiations with New York State's public employee unions.

What Does It Do?

The Taylor Law:

grants public employees the right to organize and to be represented by employee organizations of their own choice;

requires public employers to negotiate and enter into agreements with public employee organizations regarding their employees' terms and conditions of employment;

establishes impasse procedures for the resolution of collective bargaining disputes;

defines and prohibits improper practices by public employers and public employee organizations;

prohibits strikes by public employees; and

establishes a state agency to administer the Law- The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

Administration Of The Taylor Law

The New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) was created as an independent, neutral agency to administer the Taylor Law. The three member Board is appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the State Senate. The Board's major responsibility is to act as an umpire in disputes arising under the Taylor Law. Other responsibilities include: administration of the Taylor Law statewide; resolution of representation disputes; provision of impasse resolution services; adjudication of improper practice charges; designation of management/confidential employees; determination of employee organization responsibility for striking and ordering forfeiture of dues and agency fee check-off privileges; and, administration of grievance and interest arbitration panels.

Resolution of Contract Disputes

Mediation: Generally under the Taylor Law there are four impasse resolution systems, and in each system, mediation is the required first step. Either or both parties may request mediation assistance by filing a "Declaration of Impasse" with PERB's Director of Conciliation. The mediator is appointed by the Director from PERB's full-time staff or its panel of per diem mediators. The mediator acts as liaison between the parties, and seeks to effect a settlement through persuasion and compromise.

Fact-Finding: If mediation fails to resolve the impasse, then Fact-Finding is the next step. The fact-finder may attempt to resolve the dispute through further mediation. If not, or if unsuccessful in that effort, the fact-finder then holds a hearing, takes testimony of witnesses, accepts briefs from the parties, and then makes a written, nonbinding recommendation for settlement to both parties. The Fact-Finder then makes the report and recommendations public within five days of transmission of the report to the parties.

Binding Arbitration: For New York State Police units, the procedure is similar to what the law provides for local police, fire fighters, and certain transit employees. The Taylor Law provides that if the dispute is not resolved in mediation, PERB, on petition of either party, will generally refer the dispute to arbitration. Arbitration for New York State Police units is restricted to issues directly related to compensation and the decision of the arbitrator is binding on both parties.

Legislative Hearing: In those instances where arbitration is not permitted, if one or both parties does not accept the fact-finding report in its entirety, then for public employees (with the exception of public employees of educational institutions, police, fire fighters and certain transit employees) the next step is a legislative hearing. The Governor's Office of Employee Relations submits to the Legislature a copy of the fact-finding report plus the agency's own recommendations for resolving the dispute. The employee organization may submit its recommendations for settling the dispute as well. A public hearing is then conducted by the Legislature or a legislative committee to hear the positions of both sides. The Legislature usually directs both parties to resume negotiations but occasionally, the legislature will choose to impose employment terms. Such imposition may be for no more than a single fiscal year. A legislative determination cannot change the terms of an expired agreement unless the employee organization has waived its right to stand on those terms.

Conciliation: Is mediation assistance which PERB may offer, at its discretion, if an impasse continues after a fact-finding report has been issued.

For additional information see Article 14 of the NYS Civil Service Law, which is the full text of the Taylor Law.

[letmesleep]

Note to self:

Never have an argument with Ventmedic.

LOL, why? I was actually questioned recently by another poster here (DwayneEMTP) who I respect as well as those like Vent, Dust, R/r, and others, about why I didn't challenge him and these other folks. Call them out, they have plenty to teach in many different areas, and quite honestly I think they enjoy it my union brother..........

[VentMedic]

As for those who dislike unions, what if you worked for a boss who arbitrarily could decide if you were going to work for the next 36 hours, but only pay you for 10? If you complained that you should get paid for all those hours worked, that was considered insubordination, and get you fired without any pay at all, and possibly "blacklisted" with any companies doing similar work for the next 3 states around.

These labor scenarios always make me chuckle. The unions actually believe their members are not smart enough to know about even the most basic of labor laws.

When unions paralyze a system such as air transport or mess with the security of a nation, I have no sympathy for them.

When healthcare workers walk out on patients in the name of greed, I have no sympathy if they are not allowed to come back to work when they want.

When FFs and EMS employees walk off the job and cripple an EMS system in a city or county, I don't really care what happens to them if replacements can be brought in and/or permanent employees can be hired to replace them.

You still must live up to the license you hold and if a union convinces you otherwise, then you may not understand your profession well enough to hold that license.

[brentoli]

These labor scenarios always make me chuckle. The unions actually believe their members are not smart enough to know about even the most basic of labor laws.

Correct me if I am wrong, Richard. But I think your post was pointing back to the beginnings of Labor Unions, when that senario was a reality, and there was no Wage and Labor board to step in and enforce non-existing laws?

[letmesleep]

I will agree that Richards scenario wasn't the best example for the sake of this discussion either, but the point he's trying to make is still there. There are plenty of issues within current work environments that exist today including being fired because the person your supervisor is banging wants a job, the administrative office didn't like that you thought outside the "cookbook" medicine protocols that were put in place even if you did get approval to treat in this manner from an ED MD. The point is, is that plenty of issues arise in current practices of EMS, and the unions are there to protect you from undue discipline, which we all know happens in this field because there are no real standards, as we all bitch about here on these threads.

[mstovall]

A professional association will:

* help to initiate legislation

* provide education advice

* work with state and national education committees for standards

* provide CEUs that are nationally accepted

* establish state and regional offices for localized assistance

* portability of membership - it will go anywhere with you with the same benefits

* continuous negotiations and not just when the contracts are due (I got 3 large raises in one year as an RRT after the higher educational standard became effective. I also get paid for education above the minimum and can get promoted according to qualifications instead of just senority.)

quote]

The first points of associations left above, the Boilermakers local P-3 fulfills.

Now for the rest I will deal one question at a time.

During our state legislative session, we post every bill and let the members know if they should support it or not, the consequences of supporting it or not, and have three meetings a month to discuss the pending laws. This is all listed with contact information for state reps. and sen. (who actually have given us their cell phones in order to ease the contact problems while they are in session).

The Boilermakers have started a new spin-off union PEP (Professional EMT's and Paramedics), which have two paramedics in the national officer ranks if I remember right. As I usually only talk to our regional person and I don't have a lot of personal contact with the top.

We have marched with other boilermaker unions on several occassions. The craft boilermakers had a call in for us (my local rep said he had 320 + phone calls in less that 12 hours on one piece of legislation, that more than the whole EMS community in his area).

As for protocols, no we do not have a doctor present in our meetings. We do have physcians, PA's, nurses, RT's, medics, and other professionals at our training nights (which if you go to all will meet the NREMT requirement for paramedic).

As we do not have an advisory committe per se, we do not have a physician on the body. While the Union does take care of many local and contractual issues, our current medical director has stated that "your only job is to get them to the hospital, we take care of the rest." The Union has stepped in and advocated that a more open MD be chosen and the negotiations are currently in progress as the current MD contract is almost up.

The wage issue is not the only thing we are concerned with. We look at safety issues and have gotten some new box trucks laid out different so that you can work from both sides of a patient on a cot. We played a part in getting new FAX capabilities for our 12-leads. We have gotten different gloves to wear as the current nitrile gloves were tearing on a very routine basis. We have set up a continuing education group, certified by the state, open to any EMT and medic in the area, to further our education. We have gotten uniforms provided. We have gotten extra vacation days. And this is just what they have done in the last year. We have also made sure that the company has a fully staffed shift versus running short shifts (not filling open crews).

We do have credits for NREMT, provide ACLS, ITLS, PALS, and state mandated HIV classes. We do not have new research classes, just the mandated classes to keep your cert. Unless the certifying agency requires a fee, all training is free.

The advice for continueing education is not a current focus. Our local area has several resources for this (State Fire and Rescue Training, Nursing NOW, and a state health recruiter).

Our membership is portable only to other boilermaker unions. The part for AFL/CIO is portable if you choose to claim that. We do not frown on a persons decision to work at another non-union shop. As previously stated, working environment dictates if a union is needed or not.

While the PEP is young, they are starting to get things pulled together. They had some big problems in the early years nationwide with not knowing how to deal with issues. While I am still looking for something that would take care of our needs better, I do not have FF's dictating what type of contract I will work under, just EMT's and Medics. Until something better comes along, I will stay where I am at. I have chosen to become an officer in order to help change and improve our local working environment. Our employees get raises based on longevity with the company, dual state certs, edorsements such as NASCAR (as our company fills the EMS need at two racetracks), and we do get annual cost of living raises. Are these at the rate I would like to see, NO. They are a starting place and they do help. We also get longevity bonuses in 5-year increments.

I hope this helps paint a better picture of what the Union has done locally Vent. While I do not say that Unions are the solutions, they do guarantee you the right to be heard as an employee. Our previous leadership did a great job in getting us where we are, I hope to help us get to the next level.

Michael

[Dustdevil]

The first points of associations left above, the Boilermakers local P-3 fulfills.

Sure, but the big difference is that the professional association works for BETTER educational standards, not for decreasing them or holding them stagnate.

We played a part in getting new FAX capabilities for our 12-leads.

If your union had the slightest concern for professional educational standards, they would insist that you become well enough educated to interpret 12-lead EKGs competently, instead of squandering money on a technological crutch, so you don't have to get more education.

Really, everything you just said in that last post proves the point about unions being uncommitted to professionalism and the profession itself. And it makes your union sound really, really bad. The fact that you find all those things positive is just really sad.

[Richard B the EMT]

Correct me if I am wrong, Richard. But I think your post was pointing back to the beginnings of Labor Unions, when that senario was a reality, and there was no Wage and Labor board to step in and enforce non-existing laws?

I agree that it was not my best posting of a concept, but the Wage and Labor Boards, and the laws they enforce, came in BECAUSE of the unions.

A bit more of a history lesson, here: Due to allegations of connections to either or both the Communists and Organized Crime (Cue "The Internationale" and "The Godfather" from the music library), to some, even today, unions admittedly leave a bad taste in some folks' mouths. I see that as a point of perception.

It is my hope, that when unionists put up a picket line, either for informing the public of the union's wants and needs, or an actual protest line, that employers and their companies don't go back to methods used at the beginning of the last century. That would be: hiring private armies, private security guards, and simple thugs, to break heads of those on the lines, firebomb their homes, and generally make life tough for the unionists!

[VentMedic]

IIt is my hope, that when unionists put up a picket line, either for informing the public of the union's wants and needs, or an actual protest line, that employers and their companies don't go back to methods used at the beginning of the last century. That would be: hiring private armies, private security guards, and simple thugs, to break heads of those on the lines, firebomb their homes, and generally make life tough for the unionists!

You don't have to preach any history to some of us who have actually lived through union violence in recent times. The violence is from the fault of both sides in many cases.

Have you ever been involved in a strike. Even in EMS they can get very nasty. We lost two trucks due to fire bombings by "EMTs" in the 1985 strike. Tell me how that equates to professionalism.

I have also grown up with my father being a Teamster and do remember the weapons he carried each time he went to the picket lines. There was a mission to keep scab labor out by any means possible even if it meant harming someone you worked with the day before the strike. It was not uncommon to be rewarded by the union for the number of violent acts you could do to the scabs.

Even the nursing strikes can get ugly and create havoc for the patients who are just trying to enter a hospital. It is the patients that want to go to the hospital of their choice but get transported to a nonunion hospital or union hospital staffed by outsiders for the patients' safety. I've worked quite a few of these because I don't believe in abandoning patients when they are most vulnerable just to say "see I told you so" to the company if something happens to cause harm to the patients.

Many of the laws were created so that unions did not have to resort to violence to get their message across or jeopardize industry and patients.

There are labor and personal injury attorneys on every corner. I doubt if very many companies are going to risk lawsuits, heavy penalties or making headlines in the newspapers.

[mstovall]

Sure, but the big difference is that the professional association works for BETTER educational standards, not for decreasing them or holding them stagnate.

If your union had the slightest concern for professional educational standards, they would insist that you become well enough educated to interpret 12-lead EKGs competently, instead of squandering money on a technological crutch, so you don't have to get more education.

Really, everything you just said in that last post proves the point about unions being uncommitted to professionalism and the profession itself. And it makes your union sound really, really bad. The fact that you find all those things positive is just really sad.

Our Union class on 12 leads is taught by a cardiologist and is 24 hrs long with a 1 on 1 test session with him. I don't know of many institutions that dictate this proficiency. We have multiple classes to accomadate the multiple shifts and part-time scheldule. Short of pushing for everyone to become a cardiac tech, I don't see what else we can do. Oh did I mention that this is a PAID FOR CLASS. I have never had this opportunity from our state associations.

I do believe that associations have their place, it is just not to represent me and train me. They are there to be a lobbying group, which they do not have the connections of the unions that have been around for 100 years or so. heck, EMS isn't that old.

I seems to me that many who are bashing unions don't truly know what they are there for, nor have they been a part of an effective Union. If the Unions that you have been affiliated with have not met these minimum opportunities, you whould have voted out the leadership or moved to decertify the union, but you do have to be involve to force them to work for the betterment of the work place and employees. Remember that Unions were formed to Increase wages to a sustainable living wage, improve safety of the employees, and improve the education of the employees. What is so wrong with that? If they are not meeting these three goals, you don't have an effective Union. And a collective voice is always louder than an individual who tells of a company's short-comings on an individual level. If they didn't, why do we need associations for?

Michael