What more does a New York City EMT or paramedic need to do to get a living wage? Apparently, saving lives isn’t enough.
For three years now, FDNY EMS Local 2507, the union representing these lifesavers, has been battling City Hall for a new labor contract. Starting pay for EMTs and paramedics — whose primary responsibility is to render immediate medical assistance to New Yorkers in need and rush them to a local hospital — is under $40,000 and rises only to a shade under $60,000 after five years of service.
By contrast, an NYPD officer starts out with an annual salary of $60,000, rising to $126,000 after five years of service; an FDNY firefighter starts out with an annual salary of just over $54,000, rising to $105,000 after 5 ½ years of service.
The disparity between EMTs, paramedics, and their first responder brethren is bad enough. Last week, the City Council passed a bill increasing the hourly wage for app-based delivery workers to $21.44 per hour — a 13% higher rate than the $18.94 per hour wage an NYC EMT/paramedic earns. This left many EMTs, paramedics, and their supporters feeling insulted on top of injury.
We’re not saying that the app-based delivery workers do not deserve a raise; they certainly do for the services they provide. But for City Hall to continue to leave life-saving first responders hanging with stagnant wages like this is utterly disgraceful.
Because of this massive wage disparity, the NYC EMS service is undergoing a tremendous brain drain, as many of these lifesavers are forced to quit and find employment with better wages. Indeed, Local 2507 says EMTs quit their posts within five years. It’s equally difficult to recruit new workers to a job that requires high skills for little financial reward. Meanwhile, the number of 911 calls only grows year after year in New York City.
It’s time for Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council to finally give NYC EMTs and paramedics the higher wages they deserve and earn every time they rush out on a call and encounter patients in severe medical distress, families in anguish and situations in which every second and every decision may be the difference between life and death. The mayor has a responsibility to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the union; the Council has a responsibility to ensure the funding is there to make a pay increase happen.
You should write to Mayor Adams at the contact page on his website, nyc.gov/mayor. You should also email your local City Council members and Speaker Adrienne Adams at speakeradams@council.nyc.gov. Please tell them the city’s EMTs and paramedics are essential workers who deserve the best possible pay for their incredibly important vocation.
Every New Yorker or someone they love will eventually need the services of an EMT or paramedic. We need to ensure that those EMTs and paramedics can do their jobs to the best of their abilities — and that can only happen if they are given the living wages they need.
