Emergency medical technicians protested Monday for higher wages in Los Angeles and Orange counties, arguing that paltry pay had drained workers from their company, hampering its response times.
“Fifteen dollars — the minimum wage — is not enough money for the work that you guys do,” Phil Petit, national director of the International Assn. of EMTs and Paramedics, told dozens of Care Ambulance workers clad in red shirts outside Los Angeles City Hall.
“They are not treating you like professionals,” Petit told the crowd. “They are not treating you like the people working at Del Taco get treated. ... It’s unacceptable, and it ends now.”
Union officials said that many Care EMTs in L.A. and Orange counties are being paid roughly $15 or $16 an hour, which they said was below nearby competitors. Workers picketed Monday in downtown Los Angeles and outside the offices of the L.A. County and Orange County emergency medical services agencies, holding up signs that read “Fair Pay for First Responders” and “Is Your Life Worth More Than Minimum Wage?”
EMTs at the company tend to be young, and “some people leave before they can even drink,” said Ryan Walters, a Care EMT and president of IAEP Local 370. Walters said that to make ends meet, he had lived with his parents until he was almost 30. “The company wants to hire people and use them up as fast as possible.”
Union leaders said that more than a quarter of Care EMTs were quitting or retiring annually out of frustration with low wages...
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