By GINGER ADAMS OTIS
The Chief-Leader (New York)
NEW YORK — More than a hundred Emergency Medical Service members gathered in City Hall Park Jan. 5 to vent 42 months’ worth of anger and frustration at Mayor Bloomberg and his administration over their lack of a contract, while union leaders moved to get a bargaining impasse declared.
The city’s Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics, including EMS officers, have been working under an expired contract for more than three years and have been negotiating with the city for 19 months. The union leadership said the Office of Labor Relations “spit in [EMS’s] face” with its last offer.
Want PERB to Step In
Lawyers from District Council 37, the parent union to Local 2507, which represents the city’s 2,500 EMTs and Paramedics, petitioned the Public Employment Relations Board Jan. 6 to declare an impasse. If granted, the impasse could lead to negotiation sessions between the city and EMS personnel with an independent mediator, or could ultimately bring the union into binding arbitration.
Full Story: http://www.thechief-leader.com/news/2006/0113/News/028.html