EMS Long Battle Won

To the Editor:

I want to clarify your excellent articles, in the June 22 issue, about the EMS unions achieving uniformed status. This was and is a tremendous accomplishment. The leadership of the locals must be applauded - especially Pat Bahnken and Don Faeth of EMS Local 2507, who have been pursuing this issue for years. I also want to applaud the efforts of Terry Meginniss, whom Pat Bahnken acknowledges for arguing the case before the courts. I also recognize that support from Council Speaker Quinn and others at the City Council must have played an important role.

In addition, during recent years, there has been significant acknowledgement of the value and importance of the service provided by EMS workers. The tragic death of Tracy Allen Lee from contracting HIV while caring for a patient opened the door to recognizing the "invisible" dangers we face from contracting diseases from the people we treat without knowing whether they carry contagious diseases. The efforts by Bob Ungar in this regard are substantial, as they help place our work in the proper context.

We are distinctive among city workers in that our mission is to save lives, transport the sick and injured, prevent paralysis from neck injuries due to car accidents, deal with hysterical family members whose loved ones are sick or dying, stop the damage occurring from heart attacks, and even revive people whose hearts have stopped.

This is a type of work that doesn't simply require specialized training, equipment and support, but also needs a compassion for family and friends of the sick and injured. In addition, the physical demands of the job require carrying people down many flights of stairs, and extricating people from mangled cars and industrial accidents.

Lastly, as this is never an issue when we treat our patients and is pursued by clerical staff way after the patient is home and recovering, we provide a revenue stream for the city, as there is an ability to recoup some of the cost for the medical services rendered through billing insurance companies.

This achievement on uniformed status also reveals the value of unions and the labor movement in general. Without the consistent and continuing efforts of the leaders, rank-and-file activists and staff of the organizations representing workers, these kinds of improvements would not come about. I can say this because it was actually 23 years ago that the issue of uniformed status was brought up at the bargaining table. The Local 2507 leadership, of which I was part, publicized and mobilized the rank and file behind the legitimacy of this claim for equal treatment with the other uniformed services.

We did the first-ever comparison of our salary and benefits with other EMS workers around the nation and it was Terry Meginniss, who was new to the local back then, who assisted in those negotiations. Although we clearly did not achieve much during those times, it is important for all the current members to understand (and those who were on the job then to remember) that the leaders and members of the local planted the seed for the justification of uniformed status during that time.

It was a spark that smoldered, flared up and was stoked through the years, and I am proud that I helped to initiate that spark, but I am ecstatic that the current leadership and rank and file have finally established themselves in the hard-earned position among city workers.

MICHAEL STEIN,
Former Secretary-Treasurer, Local 2507, District Council 37