Labor and City Hall:

From the sidelines, a bid to stop a strike

Private ambulance service, union at odds over expired contract

Sun Photo Illustration

American Medical Response paramedics’ contract with the Service Employees International Union has expired, and a strike is possible.

By Megan McCloskey (contact)

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman urged both sides in a looming paramedic strike last week to resolve their differences and negotiate a contract for the sake of the community.

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American Medical Response

“The two sides need to talk,” Goodman said of the paramedics and the company they work for, American Medical Response.

“We asked them to resolve this because it may jeopardize the health and safety of our residents,” Reid said at a news conference.

But about all that city and county officials can do is express their concern. They have no direct role in helping avert a strike.

The reason: By contracting with a private company to transport injured or sick people to the hospital, government has no authority to deal directly with the paramedics. Negotiations are strictly between the union and the private company, so government officials are relegated to the sidelines for the most part, allowed to do no more than encourage the parties to work it out.

The contract between AMR, which handles the majority of the Las Vegas Valley’s ambulance needs, and the Service Employees International Union has expired. Both have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, and the union has given notice that it will strike the day after Thanksgiving.

This is an unusual predicament.

Fire and police departments are precluded from striking because a loss of those vital services, no matter how temporary, is a danger to the public. Private companies, though, typically don’t have no-strike clauses in contracts with workers.

In Las Vegas, the fire department, which has about 200 paramedics on staff, is the first responder to a medical emergency but takes patients to the hospital only about 25 percent of the time. Most of that duty is handled by AMR.

Reid clearly isn’t happy with the government’s limited ability to step in. His staff is researching the AMR franchise agreement to determine whether the county can weigh in beyond persuasive words. Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic is doing the same.

Goodman declined to comment on the larger policy issue about the government being sidelined, saying only that his primary concern is the possible strike.

Without a direct role, the government’s only leverage aside from persuasion over the parties would be in the franchise agreement. It can be a powerful tool, according to Adrian Moore, vice president of the Reason Foundation, a pro-free-market think tank. If the company cannot provide adequate service, the city or county can award the contract to another company.

To save money, governments frequently turn to private companies to take over public services.

Unlike other cities that once handled all ambulance services in the public sector and only later decided to outsource, Las Vegas has long had a public-private partnership for emergency medical response. The city added paramedics to the fire department more than 30 years ago but didn’t start transporting until 1999. Until then it was handled entirely by private companies.

AMR’s local workforce wasn’t unionized when the company got the contract with the city and county, so the issue of a strike wasn’t a consideration at the time, Reid said.

Some cities have tried to avoid the issue Las Vegas is facing by inserting no-strike clauses into their franchise agreements with companies.

Whether officials try to do that here when the AMR contract expires in 2015 depends, they say, on how the current strike threat plays out.

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

By Matois

11/20/08 at 9:02 a.m.

Suggest removal

So let me get this right......we can't spare a few more dollars to pay the people who protect our lives and deliver emergency health service. Yet we have a Congress who is considering giving copious amounts of money to an industry whose unskilled workers get paid $75 per hour (on average) to slap knobs on gearshifts on an assembly line. Sure. Makes perfect sense to me. Where's Obama when you need him to spread THAT wealth?
By SinCityEMT

11/21/08 at 9:50 a.m.

Suggest removal

I am a Las Vegas EMT and I love my job. Like all of my colleagues, I chose this profession because I want, and do, make a difference in peoples lives as well as in the community. As a medical professional, I am required to complete 16 units of continuing medical education and must also pass a patient care protocols test annually to maintain my license. I am subject to a medical review board which can result in me having my medical license revoked as well as being criminally prosecuted. I am exposed to deadly, infectious diseases such as: HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, TB, meningitis, etc. as well the majority of bodily fluids. I have to physically restrain violent, drug addicted, and/or psychiatric patients who have been placed on an involuntary legal hold. I bear witness to horrific scenes of death, abuse and neglect. I also witness the best in humanity and moments of triumph over death. I (legally) exceed the speed limit and drive the wrong way down the road over center medians and through red lights. I risk my health and safety to get to you, a complete stranger, from whom i may not even get a "thank you". Mind you, all of this takes place during my 12 hour shift sitting in the cramped cab of an ambulance in some of the worst parts of town. I make 11 dollars per hour (under 2k per month). I do my job knowing full well I can make more money holding a slow/stop sign at a construction site. I hope to someday own a home and provide an education for my children. Unfortunately, I'll have to leave a job i love to do so.

PS. pull ALL THE WAY to the right and STOP when an emergency vehicle is behind you. oh, and vomiting once is not a reason to call 911 :)
By MICT1995

11/27/08 at 12:31 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By MICT1995

11/27/08 at 2:34 p.m.

Suggest removal

Mercy use to be a top notch services until AMR took over. AMR has always been about the mighty $ and could care less about its employee's as seen by they way they treat them, Pay them and continue to go after their employees like a witch hunt.

AMR/EMCARE is a large company with no respect for it's filed crews, as a Former supervisor with AMR and Paramedic I seen this first hand.

The Community is safe since Clark County FD and LVFD and NLVFD have their Ambulances. The Employee's should strike!!!! And teach AMR a lesson on howIt treats it's Paramedic and EMT's. AMR's employees nationwide should strike.

I am just glad Mr. Carroll is gone and Miss Mueller with AMR Northern California should be next. AMR upper management has lost touch with it's field crews and half if it's upper management has not worked on a Ambulance in years Or even has an EMT or Paramedic certification.

Ask Mr. Wilson or Miss Mueller when was the last time they worked on an Ambulance was.The Fire Dept. should hire EMT's and Paramedics who function only in EMS in a non fire combat position like the City of San Francisco did back in 2006 When they created a EMS Division under the Fire Dept.. Most AMR EMT's and Paramedic would enjoy working for a municipality with better pay and benefits.That AMR can't come close to matching.
Mr. Myers CEO of AMR needs a reality check.

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