‘Treat us equally’: FDNY EMS union makes final push for wage equity as Adams prepares to leave office

Just weeks before Mayor Eric Adams is set to leave City Hall at the end of December, FDNY EMS Local 2507 — which represents more than 4,000 emergency medical technicians, paramedics and fire inspectors in New York City — released a 30-second radio spot and video urging Adams to uphold a promise he made during his 2021 mayoral campaign to grant FDNY EMS wage equity with other city front-line first responders, including New York’s Finest and Bravest.

The last-minute push comes amid a reported 70% attrition rate among New York City’s “Street Doctors,” which the union attributes to a lack of pay parity. The message follows the launch of the #StandwithEMS public awareness campaign in October, which highlights what the union says is City Hall’s failure to invest in medical first responders and the inequities FDNY EMTs face both on and off the job.

In the video and radio spot, Oren Barzilay, a 30-year FDNY EMS veteran and president of Local 2507, says Mayor Adams still has the “chance to make it right” and lift EMTs and paramedics out of poverty before leaving office.

“Mayor Adams, four years ago you committed to combat current EMS poverty wages and give us pay equity with other first responders,” Barzilay says. “We are New York City’s lowest-paid municipal workers and among the least compensated medical professionals across America.”

Despite providing life-saving critical care and responding to dangerous situations similar to those faced by police officers and firefighters, FDNY EMTs and paramedics remain the city’s lowest-paid municipal workers. A rookie EMT earns a starting salary of $39,386, or about $18 an hour, compared with $45,196 for a rookie firefighter. After five years, FDNY EMS workers often top out at about $59,000 annually, while firefighters can earn around $110,000.

The average FDNY EMT salary after taxes.Courtesy FDNY EMS Local 2507

FDNY EMS workers are also among the lowest-paid medical professionals nationwide. In neighboring Nassau County, EMTs and paramedics can earn up to $142,000 a year after 12 years on the job, with a starting salary of $50,000.

Because of the low pay, many EMTs — most of them women and people of color — struggle to make ends meet, the union says. Some rely on SNAP benefits and HUD Section 8 housing, while others live in homeless shelters, in their cars, or work second and third jobs.

The department loses about two members a day, with many EMTs and paramedics staying only three to five years before leaving for higher-paying city jobs. The union attributes the turnover to low pay and chronic understaffing. It also argues that the FDNY is deploying fewer ambulances and crews despite responding to 1,630,466 medical emergencies in 2024 — a 15.4% increase, or 217,756 additional 911 calls annually, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 — further intensifying the workload.

Barzilay, who is serving on incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s emergency response transition team, told Brooklyn Paper that he receives daily calls from colleagues notifying him that they have submitted their resignations.

“This job is actually making it worse for them to survive, so they’re going elsewhere where the pay is better, yeah, and basically, that’s anywhere now, even McDonald’s, even delivering for Uber Eats. Whatever they can find that pays more, they’re leaving,” Barzilay said.

He added that Mamdani is aware of the pay disparity and expressed hope that the incoming administration will address the issue.

“Treat us equally. We have an important role in society. We are literally saving lives. We bring people that are physically dead back to life. What’s the value of that?” Barzilay said. “We’re not asking to be rich; we’re just asking for livable wages equal to other first responders. It’s the basic necessity to survive. I mean, we are working in one of the richest and most expensive cities in the world, yet we’re working for minimum wage, and people can’t survive on these wages.”

A spokesperson for the mayor said the administration has focused on keeping New Yorkers safe and empowering the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect public safety since the start of Adams’ term.

“Our administration values the critical service of our EMS workers, and will remain in negotiations to reach a fair agreement with them until our very last day – as we’ve done with 98.6% of the City’s workforce,” the spokesperson said.

Brooklyn Paper reached out to the FDNY and to Mamdani’s office about how the incoming mayor plans to address EMS pay disparity but did not receive a response.