By Josh Kovner
Hartford Courant
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Contract talks between an ambulance company and its medics were jolted last week when union negotiators said they found a small surveillance camera hidden in a smoke detector in a conference room at American Medical Response’s regional office in West Hartford.
The discovery of the camera, which was plugged into an outlet that was concealed by ceiling tiles, led the union — the National Emergency Medical Services Association — to file a federal unfair-labor-practice complaint. West Hartford police are also investigating.
A union news release described the incident as “a new low” for AMR, a national company that provides ambulance service in Greater Hartford, the New Haven area, and other Connecticut locations. The union represents 250 emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and 50 transportation workers in AMR’s Greater Hartford office.
AMR denies it was listening to or recording conversations in the room, which union negotiators were using to talk with their lawyer and plan strategy.
In a statement, the company maintained it “has the right to use cameras to monitor our operations centers. ... Contrary to union allegations, the company was not monitoring union negotiations or private meetings ... and [has] never done so.”
The statement said the company had used a cheap monitoring device in response to some internal problems in the past.
“AMR has been concerned about some vandalism, theft and other inappropriate conduct that had been occurring on the property. One of our supervisors, with good intentions, used an inexpensive video monitor to try to identify the culprits. The device was discovered by the union earlier this week and immediately brought to our attention.”
AMR apologized to its employees and said it is cooperating with the West Hartford police investigation.
But the union and the company differ sharply over the capabilities of the device. Lead union negotiator Jimmy Gambone, who found the camera in the smoke detector, identified it as a wireless ClearCam indoor camera with an audio receiver. The device is made by SecurityMan and sells for $94.95, according to the distributor’s website.
An internal AMR memo obtained by The Courant describes the device as being “similar to a baby monitor” in that it had no recording capability.
“After a few attempts at its use, it was found that the device worked poorly. It was turned off and forgotten about in the midst of [federal disaster] deployments at the end of August,” said the memo from Sean Piendel, general manager of AMR’s Greater Hartford office.Three weeks ago, when contract talks were beginning, Gambone checked the smoke detector in the conference room, directly above the table. The circuitry was missing, which he said intrigued him, but otherwise there was nothing suspicious. When he checked it again Wednesday, after two days of caucuses in the room, he found the camera. AMR officials were confronted; police were called; and a complaint was filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Contract talks, said Gambone, have been shifted to a hotel conference room in Glastonbury.