WBAI
In our second hour we are going to check in with our FDNY EMS unions about a new bill introduced by New York City Council Member Joann Ariola, who chairs the Council’s Fire and Emergency Management Committee to provide a $20,000 retention and recruitment bonus for FDNY EMTS and $25,000 payment to FDNY EMS paramedics.
This proposal comes as the city’s EMS crisis continues with scores of ambulances sitting idle every day for the lack of a crew while response times for the most serious medical emergencies continues to deteriorate.
This EMS proposal follows on the heels of a similar one time $10,000 bonus passed by the New York City Council last week for New York City’s paraprofessional teachers who help New York City’s special needs children get through their school day.
Currently that workforce, like so many members of FDNY EMS, are making poverty level wages.