Buffalo News.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. — For Buffalo residents, this might not be the best time to have a medical emergency.
The Common Council on Tuesday put off renewing a contract with Rural/Metro Medical Services, which handles as many as 34,000 emergency calls a year in the City of Buffalo. Since a two-year extension on the company’s original 5-year contract with the city expired July 1, 2012, the ambulance service has been operating on a month-to-month basis.
However, lawmakers expressed concern at Tuesday’s meeting of the Common Council about the possibility of a strike by emergency medical technicians working for Rural/Metro. Teamsters Local 375 on Friday delivered a 10-day notice to the private company signaling the union’s intent to strike if progress is not made toward negotiating a new wage scale for its members who, the union said, are currently paid below the city’s living wage.
Full story: City lawmakers delay approving contract with Rural/Metro as ambulance strike looms