By Dan Judge
Vallejo Times Herald (California)
Copyright 2006 The Times-Herald
All Rights Reserved
AMERICAN CANYON, Calif. — A looming strike by Piner’s Ambulance Service employees had some American Canyon residents voicing fears about their safety on Wednesday.
The union representing Piner’s employees said it will strike on Aug. 18 if contract negotiations do not result in an agreement by then. The company provides services to all of Napa County, including the south county city.
“That would be a devastating thing if there was not going to be ambulance service,” said Larry Asp, a 59-year-old resident of Olympia MobiLodge, a senior mobile home park in American Canyon. “We have a lot of people here over 55, and ambulances are here frequently. That would be horrible.”
Las Casitas Mobile Home Park resident Bill Russell, 62, said he had not heard about the potential strike but said it would most likely alarm the community’s older population.
“I’m sure there would be a lot of people who would be very concerned about that,” he said. “It would create a vacuum of needed support for the elderly.”
Piner’s General Manager Stewart Slipiec said negotiations are continuing with the employees’ union, National Emergency Medical Services Association. Even if those talks fail, however, he said the public should be reassured that ambulance service will continue.
Enough employees have agreed to stay on the job to staff many of the ambulances, he said. In the meantime, the company is in the process of hiring replacement workers.
“Regardless of what happens, we feel there is not going to be an interruption in our business,” Slipiec said.
Piner’s has 65 employees and 10 ambulances providing medical emergency services to Napa County under contract with the exception of Napa city.
Torren Colcord, president of the employees’ union, has officially notified Piner’s, Napa County and the National Labor Relations that the company’s paramedics, technicians and dispatchers will go on strike Aug. 18 if an agreement isn’t reached.
Slipiec said Piner’s management put a pay hike of between 5 and 12 percent on the table at talks on Monday -paramedics in
Napa County make between $43,000 and $58,000a year - but other issues have yet to be resolved.
Seniority privileges regarding station assignments and union security are the chief issues in the talks.
The company wants to rotate positions on a quarterly basis. Employees say choosing their work site is one of the few privileges of seniority they have.
Piner’s also wants the right to search workers’ personal vehicles if management suspects substance abuse or other problems. It also wants that right if the employee’s vehicle is on company property.
The employees say such searches are a violation of their constitutional rights.
Last week, 33 of Piner’s 65 ambulance employees voted to authorize the strike. Twelve workers did not take part in the vote.
More discussions are scheduled for Friday, Slipiec said.
“I hope between now and Friday we will have a much better indication of where we are going,” he said. “It’s kind of a game of chicken at this point.”
The employee’s union representative could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
American Canyon Mayor Cecil Shaver said Piner’s is promising it can handle the situation and, if not, the county will ask for mutual aid from Solano County.
He added that the American Canyon Fire Protection District should be able to provide some of the emergency services that Piner’s could be lacking in case of a strike.
“It could get bad if we don’t have the paramedic services but hopefully we will have something we can rely on,” he said.
Fire Chief Keith Caldwell said he could only offer limited comment on the matter.
“The only comment I can make is we are working with the Napa County health officer and EMS (emergency medical services) division,” he said.
“We have met and discussed contingency planning.”
Theresa Richmond, a spokeswoman for Napa County’s Health and Human Services Department, said the agency is in discussions with Piner representatives to make sure emergency services continue to run smoothly.
“We are currently working with Piner’s to resolve the issue of them being able to provide service to us in the manner we need them to provide them in, per contract,” she said. “We’re looking at the protocols and things we might do in case this strike comes to fruition.”