Why is The Job Different?
If you listen to the show, you may know the name Michael Greco. He’s been a guest twice on The Overrun, as the Vice President of Local 2507. That’s the union that represents the over 4,000 clinicians in the Fire Department of the City of New York EMS Command (FDNY*EMS), and Michael has talked with us about the work that he and his members have been doing to fight for parity and fair working conditions for paramedics and EMTs in FDNY.
For some time now, the leadership of the city has failed to value the contributions of their EMS. It didn’t get better with COVID; they answered over 1 million calls for service last year. They continued to respond, even as firefighting units were taken off of first responder assignments out of fear of the virus. They were all alone out there.
Many became sick; some died in the line of duty from COVID. Of course, the mental and physical toll of the survivors will continue to rack up as we move forward in time.
Two FDNY paramedics died at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; as did eight other EMTs and paramedics working in New York who are dispatched as “voluntaries” in the FDNY EMS system. To clarify; since the beginning of the FDNY/NYC system, they have depended on private hospitals to provide units to augment the citywide 911 system in order to answer calls. They aren’t considered part of FDNY EMS, and wear different uniforms and use different vehicles.
EMS members in New York are not based in firehouses, as in other fire-based systems like Baltimore and Philadelphia. And while they are legally recognized as a “Uniformed” service akin to the NYPD, firefighters, and Department of Sanitation, they still fight for equal recognition alongside the same people they often respond to incidents with.
The requirements for the job are actually a little harder in EMS as opposed to firefighter; because you either have to be an EMT, a paramedic (although you will be hired as an EMT only), or a graduate “trainee” of one of the designated NYC high schools for health or public safety that funnel recruits into the pipeline.
The pay and benefits disparity is astonishing. EMS is not only not covered by the same health plan as firefighters their pay is significantly lower than them. A first year EMT makes $35,234/year; after five years they top out at $50,604. Paramedics do slightly better; starting at $$48,237/year; at five years they top out at $65, 226/year. Trainees make slightly less, starting at $32,520. (www.joinfdny.com)
A rookie firefighter in FDNY starts at $43,904, after 5 years is making $85,292.
Oh, and as for mobility? Well, if you “promote” to paramedic, you become eligible to become an officer/supervisor, albeit not making anywhere near what a fire lieutenant, captain, or chief makes. EMS Lieutenants make $68,000, according to official documents by the city (@NYCEMSWatch), FDNY Lieutenants make $84,414/year, and NYPD makes $107,830.
You can also, as an EMS member with enough time on the job (three years); “promote” to the rank of Firefighter, and head off to probationary school. If that’s your thing.
Sound like a bad deal? It seems like it is. The majority of FDNY EMS personnel leave the profession as soon as they can to transfer to NYPD, the firefighting side, or other city departments that pay a lot more and have much better deals for their members. The turnover is high, and the work conditions can be difficult to say the least.
FDNY EMS units are posted on street corners. Not stations. They don’t get breaks for meals, and they have no place other than their posting location or the hospital to use a restroom. And to be brutally honest; if you’ve ever taken a pre-school age kid to the city and tried to find a place for that kid to pee, you can only imagine the drama of trying to find a reliable place to go on duty.
The newest thing that FDNY EMS Command has put out, and the reason for our latest talk with Mike; was the directive from the brass that too many EMS units were “unavailable” because they had to use the bathroom. It further directed that supervisors were to check up on units who used the bathroom “too much”, and to file reports and forward to disciplinary action those who seem to be “abusing” nature’s call.
Mike shared one instance of a member who reached out to him distraught. Her supervisor had grilled her over the number of times that her unit had to “10-100” on shift; and she was mortified to have to explain to a paramedic supervisor (who should know better) just why.
Because she was having an unusually heavy menstrual period.
Let that sink in: A female FDNY EMS member had to explain to her (probably male) supervisor just why she had to change her tampon or pad. Imagine the embarrassment.
The humiliation over a natural bodily process.
Why?
Command in this instance doesn’t want to look at the reasons why EMS units are overworked to the point that someone pooping will throw the system into chaos. Nor do they want to consider adding units in a department that, unlike others; actually does recoup some of their costs from billing health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
Yes, I know that reimbursements suck. But when was the last time you saw a ladder company get money back for doing their job? When was the last time a cop sent a bill for taking your report?
And before all the fire guys jump in; I’m NOT saying you’re the problem. The politicians, suits and the bean counters are the ones pitting you all against each other in a zero sum game.
Why does this happen to the around 1,100 EMS clinicians of FDNY*EMS, and not the 118 female firefighters of the FDNY? Why is it that the members of FDNY*EMS are given short shrift? Why is turnover so high in the command that paramedics leave to drive garbage trucks, EMTs stay only a few years before getting out, and so few stay on long enough that a pension may as well be a lottery ticket?
Maybe the answer is staring us in the face.
The Fire Department of New York has roughly 11,000 members. 118 are women. The official percentage is 1%, far behind the police, corrections, and sanitation. The vast majority of the department’s firehouses are filled with white men, followed by Latino, African-American, and Asian. (https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2020/02/057-FDNY.pdf)
That’s behind national averages by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), who puts the percentage of female firefighters betweeen 4-11%, depending on career or volunteer status (www.nfpa.org/-/media/files/News-and-Research/Fire-statistics-and-reports/Emergency-responders/osfdprofile.pdf)
FDNY*EMS, on the other hand, is much more diverse proportionally; and probably more representative of the city they serve. Women make up 28%, people of color are 59.2% and the breakdown is this: (https://council.nyc.gov/budget/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2020/02/057-FDNY.pdf)
Yes, FDNY*EMS bureau chief is a woman, and in a unique measure of diversity, the first LGBTQ EMS chief in the city. https://www.ems1.com/fdny-ems/articles/view-from-the-top-a-career-climb-rooted-in-female-empowerment-mwRmXr72X6sAZakk/
So what’s the core issue?
If you’ve been anywhere near a TV or a social media outlet over the last few months, you’ve probably heard about something called critical race theory. It’s the idea that racism in the United States has been a systemic issue since roughly the 1600s. Our institutions were built with the tacit understanding that some of us were not as equal under the law as we’d like to believe. Slavery, courts holding that some humans were only 3/5 of a person, Jim Crow, the Freedom Riders, job discrimination, all of it and more; is a system-based problem we have to address as a society.
It’s a huge controversy to some, and makes sense to others. The discussion of critical race theory is way beyond the scope of a blog post about EMS, but stay with me for a minute.
I’m building toward something.
There is evidence that FDNY in the past, as many organizations, have had things in their past regarding race that they aren’t proud of. Discrimination and misogyny have been well-documented in the public safety professions, and New York City is no different; just a lot bigger.
The fraternal organization that represents Black firefighters in NYC is called the Vulcans. There is a long history in the FDNY of discrimination in hiring and other practices, such as the “black bed” in the firehouses. The “black bed” was the bunk in the firehouse that was left closest to the toilet. No White firefighter would use it. The Vulcan Society has sued, and won against discriminatory practices by the city and FDNY in hiring firefighters of color. You can read more about the history of the Vulcan Society here: https://www.vulcansocietyfdny.org/
Women in the FDNY, as in other places, have not had it any easier. Brenda Berkman was among one of the first female firefighters, and also had to sue the FDNY in order to have a fair chance at showing she and other women could do the job.
Berkman tested for the FDNY in 1977. An official for the department was later quoted as saying that the test was the hardest one they ever administered, and with the goal of making sure not one woman of the 89 who tested made the grade. She and others filed suit, and in 1982 successfully argued a class action suit against FDNY.
This court found in their favor, and in 1982, Berkman was among a class of 40 women who entered the fire academy.
After successfully getting on the department, and finishing her probationary year, she was fired for physically being incapable of doing the job.
As she packed her personal items from her locker and left the firehouse, the firefighters on duty clapped.
She and her sister firefighters again had to sue the FDNY and the city to be reinstated. She was at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; responding off duty. She went when she didn’t have to. She retired in 2006 with the rank of Captain. Her story is one of perseverance and power, and you can find out more about her here:
https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/birnbaum-womens-leadership-network/podcasts/berkman
Knowing this, and and thinking back to my own story as a young, frequently ignorant man in the public safety world; the question keeps coming into my mind:
Is a majority male, majority White department with a majority male, majority White command staff making a conscious decision to use a more diverse minority population as disposable resources, with the fake promises of retirement and vertical movement as bait? And is this being done at the same time, to protect, foster, and continue the majority culture and institutions in the FDNY?
Is it just ignorance, or is it racism? If it is racist; is that racism by now, after almost 100 years of organizational history baked into the structure of the FDNY, so much that EMS is the victim because of its diversity? And at this point, can anyone argue against the point that the FDNY and FDNY*EMS have a system of racism and discrimination against their minority members? If they would do it to their own firefighters, why wouldn’t they do it to EMS providers who aren’t regarded as equals in the department?
If they did it to William H. Nicholson, John Woodson, Wesley Williams, Brenda Berkman, and Zaida Gonzalez; why wouldn’t it stand to reason they would continue to do it today, albeit in different, less blatant ways?
So what is it about EMS? Is it OK to the politicians and the city that because they don’t fit the image they get to be treated differently?
I’ve tried to find a reason, any reason at all to explain why this is happening in New York. Why these problems continue to exist, when it’s clearly in official records that they have known about it for, well, forever?
When you rule out other causes, you get to a diagnosis. We may not like the diagnosis, but there it is. There’s no reason for this to have continued for this long; and for FDNY*EMS to have to struggle so much to survive, even as they provide one of the most essential services anyone could need.
There’s going to be a parade on July 7th in the fabled Canyon of Heroes in downtown Manhattan. A ticker tape parade will be held for the “essential workers” who helped the city overcome the pandemic.
I’m sure NYPD will be there, as will FDNY members in full uniform. But only one service will not be held in the same regard by their leadership, or the politicians.
Mayor DeBlasio famously stated when asked about why EMS doesn’t get paid the same as the other public safety services that, “The work is different.”
Maybe it’s not the work. Maybe it’s the people who do the work. And maybe, it’s been this way a lot longer than we’d care to know.
Either way, it’s wrong, and it needs to stop. I’m going to quote Patrick Skinner, a cop I have a lot of respect for:
“We either all matter; or none of us do.”
So, what’s it going to be?
