An FDNY ambulance on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn.
File Photograph by Ben Brachfeld
Emergency medical technicians are fuming after the NYC Council authorized on Monday a pay improve for app-based grocery-delivery staff that leaves the town’s medical first responders incomes lower than most deliveristas.
FDNY EMTs, metropolis staff who reply to life-saving emergencies starting from coronary heart assaults and seizures to stabbings and shootings, are the busiest, however probably most impoverished first responders within the nation, in keeping with Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Native 2507, the union that represents the town’s EMTs and paramedics.
“This is not just a gigantic wage gap, but a complete and moral failure to the medically trained, frontline first responders who put their own lives in danger to save New Yorkers,” Barzilay mentioned.
Barzilay made the sturdy assertion after the NYC Council handed laws this week to mandate a minimal wage improve for 20,000 grocery supply staff. The rise brings their hourly wage to $21.44 per hour, which Barzilay mentioned is 13% increased than the FDNY’s emergency medical responder salaries.
The pay increase is about to match raises mandated by lawmakers for app-based restaurant supply staff, which they acquired in April 2025.
Barzilay mentioned the union has been with out a contract for 3 years.
A EMS Chief listens to radio transmission throughout a two alarm hearth at 2015 Cropsey Ave. on Sunday, Jan. 12.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
“The city steadfastly refuses to bargain in good faith, while our brave EMTs can barely afford rent and food,” he mentioned. “Apparently, they are trying to starve our members out of work, and the byproduct is a brain-drain of 70% of EMTs quitting within five years.”
EMS Native 2507 represents about 4,000 members. With an hourly wage of $18.94 per hour, the members make about $2.50 per hour under the minimal authorized wage for the town’s non-public sector meals supply staff. The beginning wage for FDNY EMTs is $39,386, growing to $59,534 after 5 years.
Final yr, FDNY EMTs and paramedics responded to 1,630,446 medical emergencies, a 15.4% bounce from the variety of medical emergencies on the peak of the COVID outbreak in 2020, in keeping with union statistics.
‘The pay is unreasonable’
Nicole, an FDNY paramedic, defined that a lot of her colleagues are burned out from what they see and do daily in NYC. Whereas a pay increase wouldn’t erase their stresses, staff may not want a second job to make ends meet, she defined.
“No one thinks about our working conditions, declining mental health, the toll the trauma takes on our bodies and spirits,” Nicole defined. “No one realizes the things we see when we close our eyes or what goes through our minds when it’s quiet. Pay compensation will not fix that but perhaps more of us would be able to quit our second and third jobs if pay was better.”
She even mentioned some EMTs and paramedics stay of their vehicles or shelters as a result of the pay is so low.
“How sad is that? People think that we make good money, and compared to some other occupations, perhaps we do,” she mentioned. “But the cost of living within the city where we work is way too high, and the pay is unreasonable.”
Metropolis Corridor insists they’re speaking it over
Mayor Eric Adams, who oversees collective bargaining with the union, is in lively negotiations with the union on a pay improve. A spokesperson for Adams, who couldn’t go into element concerning the discussions, mentioned the mayor is concentrated on “getting everyone the pay they deserve,” together with supply and metropolis EMS staff.
“EMS workers have made countless sacrifices to keep New Yorkers safe, and we are deeply grateful for their efforts,” the spokesperson mentioned. “The Adams administration has a proven track record of reaching fair labor agreements with our represented employees, and we remain in negotiation with the EMS union.”
Traditionally, some council members, together with Speaker Adrienne Adams and Brooklyn Metropolis Council Member Justin Brannan, have advocated for elevated pay for the FDNY’s first responders.
Within the meantime, Brooklyn Council Member Sandy Nurse, mentioned in a press launch that she was proud to sponsor the invoice requiring third-party grocery supply companies to extend the wages.
“All delivery workers deserve to get paid a decent wage for their work, no matter what they deliver or who they work for,” she mentioned. “These workers, many of whom come from immigrant communities, are being paid poverty wages simply because they deliver items, and sometimes even the same item, on a different app. This two-tiered wage system inhibits our goal to make NYC more affordable and livable, and as these sectors grow we refuse to leave these immigrant workers behind.”
