AMNY
By Barbara Russo-Lennon | January 5, 2025
Nearly 300 FDNY Emergency Medical Service workers say they’re ready to leave Midtown and Lower Manhattan, citing the financial burden congestion pricing will put on their costs of living, their union announced ahead of the toll program’s Sunday start.
Like all NYC workers, members of FDNY Local 2507, representing the city’s 4,100 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics, are not exempt from the MTA’s $9 base toll into Manhattan south of and including 60th Street. As a result, the union is urging its approximately 270 EMTs and paramedics assigned to the area to transfer out as soon as possible.
Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507, said city EMTs and paramedics save thousands of lives each year despite earning less than most delivery workers across the city, thanks to a new city law.
In 2024, City Hall mandated a nearly $20 per hour minimum wage increase for app-based food delivery workers across the five boroughs. Meanwhile, FDNY EMTs continue to earn just $18.94 per hour of work, less than $3 over the city’s 2025 minimum wage.
“Our members have complained to us when this was first brought up a while back that they would simply resign or ask to be transferred because they couldn’t afford it at the time when it was $15 an hour,” Barzilay said. “Although it dropped to $9, that’s a $45 a week expense. When you’re making poverty wages, every dollar means a lot to our men and women.”