By EMS1 Staff
NEW YORK — City emergency workers, exhausted under a heavy overtime workload, are asking for new hires and increased pay.
WCBS reported that New York City emergency workers are asking city officials to decrease the amount of overtime, as my EMTs are working 60-70 hours each week.
The New York Post reported that the city’s 4,133 EMTs and paramedics handled nearly 1.9 million emergency calls last year.
“Other jobs … there would be a fight in the hallways for getting two extra hours of overtime in a day,” Vincent Variale, president of Local 2621 of District Council 37 said. “At EMS, it’s the complete opposite. You get overtime and everyone is running in the other direction.”
Due to lower wages than other first responders and the increased hours, many in the profession consider leaving EMS for more structured and higher-salaried positions, such as the fire service.