By Jerry Berrios
The Daily News (Los Angeles)
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
LOS ANGELES — Hundreds of paramedics and emergency medical technicians throughout Los Angeles County are prepared to strike later this month if their private employer does not provide them with better wages and benefits, a union official said Friday.
The approximately 300 employees work for American Medical Response, a private ambulance company that serves about a dozen cities in L.A. County, including Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita.
The union expects to receive a contract offer from AMR today. If it is not satisfied, the union could file a 10-day strike notice that same day, according to Matthew Levy, national director of the International Association of EMTs & Paramedics.
“We are hoping that AMR will come back with a reasonable offer and have affordable health insurance so there is no impact on the community,” Levy said.
Levy called AMR’s most recent offer “insulting” and said employees can barely afford to make ends meet now.
AMR’s last offer included a 4 percent annual salary increase over four years, Levy said. Starting pay for an EMT is roughly $9.50 an hour, he said, and pay is determined by an employee’s experience and shift length.
Paid administrative leave would be eliminated under AMR’s proposal, Levy said.
The union wants the company to pay for 80 percent of health insurance costs and guarantee at least an annual 6 percent wage increase over three years.
AMR spokesman Douglas Moore would not discuss details of the negotiations, but said: “American Medical Response is committed to negotiating in good faith and to reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable to all parties.”
Health insurance deductibles and co-pays are high and could get higher if the union agrees to switch to the company’s self-insured health care plan, Levy said.
“They are health-care workers who can’t afford to get sick,” he said.
The union’s membership rejected the earlier offer on April 6, Levy said, and a majority of members authorized a strike.
AMR is one of several ambulance companies with an exclusive operating agreement with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the county’s Department of Health Services. The company operates in three zones - the San Gabriel Valley, the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita.
About 160 employees work in Lancaster, Palmdale and Santa Clarita, Levy said.
The union’s contract expired in September, but it signed extensions through April 1, Levy said.