When Emergency Medical Service Local 2507 of District Council 37 begins contract bargaining with the de Blasio administration Feb. 18, its strongest argument for a raise well in excess of the established pattern will be the testimony three weeks earlier by Chief of EMS Lillian Bonsignore that there are ambulance-crew shortages whenever a promotion list for Firefighter depletes her ranks.
She told a City Council hearing that over a four-year period once the promotion list is established, EMS loses 1,200 Emergency Medical Technicians to the Firefighter ranks. You only have to do the math to understand why: top salary for EMTs is currently $50,604, while maximum pay for Firefighters is $85,292.
A year ago, outgoing city Labor Commissioner Bob Linn said that the pay difference by itself did not warrant an adjustment in EMT salaries because they were in line with what was being paid to EMTs in the private sector.