For final pay parity push of Adams administration
By Duncan Freeman | October 6, 2025
The Chief Leader
More than three years after the expiration of their most recent contracts, the unions representing FDNY EMTs, paramedics and fire protection inspectors are launching a new campaign in the hopes of getting New Yorkers to support EMS workers’ push for pay parity with other first responders.
Local 2507 and Local 3621 — which represent EMS workers and officers — have been bargaining with the city for a new contract since August 2024. But there’s been little progress as the city has refused to budge on its offer of a civilian-pattern raise, a salary bump lower than the increase doled out to uniformed city employees. The unions, in pushing for parity with firefighters, in fact argue that their members deserve even even larger pay hikes than those granted to the uniformed unions.
Local 2507’s campaign — tagged #StandWithEMS — highlights the high call volume, poor working conditions and insufficient pay city EMS workers contend with and which the unions say lead to a 70-percent turnover rate within five years of their members starting on the job. Hundreds of EMS workers use FDNY EMS as a stepping stone to become firefighters.
‘It’s not fair’
According to Local 2507’s expired agreement, the average wage for an FDNY EMT is $18.94, union representatives said. But that wage doesn’t approach what it costs to live in the city, EMTs say.
Taysha Soto, an EMT in the Bronx, said that she works 12 hours a day and is mentally and physically drained trying to earn enough to care for herself and her two children.
“When I look at my paycheck without overtime, it comes out to $1,100-$1,200 bi-weekly,” she said. “I know people that work for UberEats making more than me. We are putting our lives at risk and we feel very underappreciated. We are at the bottom of the bottom. It’s not fair.”
She added that working conditions are “rough,” what with nonstop emergency calls to attend to.
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Local 2507’s president, Oren Barzilay, has also warned New Yorkers against joining FDNY EMS given the lack of investment from the city into the service. He’s pointed out that food and grocery drivers now have a higher minimum wage than EMTs do.
“EMS members simply cannot afford to live in the city we protect,” Barzilay said this week. “EMTs often live miles outside of the city, requiring hours-long commutes turning an 8-hour shift into 10 or 12 hours. Most must also have a second or third job, just to feed themselves and their families. FDNY EMTs and paramedics are miracle workers, protecting lives while earning wages that are incompatible for the skilled medical professionals we are. It is past time for the city to invest in our medical first responders as they do for our great police and fire.”
Barzilay is asking New Yorkers and those who support EMS workers to use post #StandWithEMS on their social media accounts.