By EMS1 Staff
MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — AMR signed its first big agreement in Arizona, giving the EMS providers an increase in salary.
AFSCME Local 2960/EMS unanimously voted to sign a four-year agreement with AMR, which gave employees a 14 percent salary increase and lower healthcare costs.
“There isn’t one member who is not absolutely excited about the future ahead,” paramedic Brian Weinberg said.
Weinberg added that AMR/Maricopa started from scratch because the purchase was not an existing operation.
“When you’re up against a company as big as AMR, you need a [union] just as big,” Weinberg said. “We chose AFSCME because of that. There was incredible transparency and [AFSCME’s] track history. It’s been a match made in heaven.”
EMT Dave Olin said the agreement addresses “holdovers,” a big issue that means crew members can be asked to be on duty without proper compensation.
“We’ve got a spine now for the employees,” Olin said. “Now the rank and file have something to fall back on. It’s not just their word against management. They have resources available.”
EMT Stephanie Garafola said the collective bargaining agreement will benefit everyone.
“Everyone knows the rules and knows the guidelines. Everyone’s going to be happier moving forward,” Garafola said. “We’re incredibly proud of what we accomplished.”