Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Paramedics drop threat of strike, for now

Updated Friday, Nov. 21, 2008 | 4:34 p.m.

It looks like, for now, paramedics will be showing up for work the day after Thanksgiving.

The Service Employees International Union has told American Medical Response, which handles the majority of Las Vegas Valley’s ambulatory needs, that it's called off a scheduled strike – so long as AMR agrees within the next seven days to set dates in December to bargain.

“We’re doing everything we can to get AMR to bargain with us. Like we’ve said from the beginning, no one has ever wanted to go on strike,” Steve Ekmark, an emergency medical technician, said in a statement, adding the union hopes that by rescinding the strike AMR will agree to negotiate.

The strike was threatened before the two sides even sat down at the bargaining table. The union’s contract with the company expired weeks ago, but there is a dispute over who can negotiate a new deal for the workers. SEIU wants to bring its sister union, International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, to the table, but AMR claims that is illegal.

Both have filed charges with the National Labor Review Board.

John Wilson, AMR Las Vegas general manager, said in a statement that “it is unfortunate that our employees and the public were subjected to the threat of a strike by the SEIU, but we are hopeful that we can now move forward and negotiate a contract that is acceptable for all parties involved.”

While AMR released a statement saying SEIU had withdrawn IAEP from the bargaining process, the unions dispute this.

It is unclear at this time what that means for the bargaining process and the community.

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