By Darry Madden
Brattleboro Reformer (Vermont)
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Emergency medical technicians at Rescue Inc., the ambulance company serving 14 Windham County towns, may form a union.
The agency’s 22 full- and part-time EMTs have a vote scheduled for Nov. 2. If a majority vote in favor of a union, management and staff will begin negotiating a contract almost immediately.
David Dunn, executive director of Rescue Inc., said the agency would “like the election to proceed.”
“It’s the right of the workers to organize if they wish,” said Dunn.
No EMTs at Rescue Inc. would discuss the union drive.
Steve Weigand, a national representative for the International EMTs and Paramedics, said that he could not speak for this group specifically, but that most emergency workers chose to unionize in order to build a stronger industry, which, unlike police and fire departments, is in its infancy.
“They want to join with other agencies to forward political agendas, just like police and fire have done for decades,” said Weigand.
Nationwide, there are about 10,000 EMTs and paramedics that are unionized. In Vermont, those at the Rutland Regional Ambulance Service and in Barre town have formed a union.
In addition to the 22 full- and part-time EMTs, Rescue Inc. has 30 volunteer EMTs who would not be eligible to join the union. There are nine employees in management, including Dunn.
Organizing may come at a financial cost.
“The notion that costs would not rise is false,” said Dunn, listing additional legal and administrative fees which would be covered from either employees’ wages or member towns.
The towns of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Marlboro, Putney and Vernon and the towns of Chesterfield and Hinsdale, N.H. pay $10 per person for Rescue Inc.'s services.
The towns in the West River Valley -- Newfane, Townshend, Jamaica, Stratton and Wardsboro -- pay more based on their smaller population density and greater distance from Brattleboro. Their fee is $15.50 per person.
Dunn said that the agency’s benefits package was more than sufficient, in management’s opinion.
For full-time EMTs, Dunn listed fully funded health insurance, fully paid dental insurance, life insurance at the rate of the employee’s annual salary, fully paid short- and long-term disability, an IRA with a 3 percent match from the company, a uniform allowance, an interest-free employee loan fund, and two weeks of vacation to start.
Dunn said that, while their wages varied, they were “above industry wages,” that no one had left Rescue Inc. for “several years,” and that, in the last two years, there have been no layoffs and one termination.