AMR strike LAS Vegas

[CBEMT]

I've heard the Fire Service getting blamed for the 'bare minimal educational standards' for EMS, but it seems to me that if EMS demanded higher educational standards as the 'norm', then the Fire Service would have to follow that lead in order to get ANY firefighters licensed as EMS providers.

WRONG.

The fire service will continue to prevent any meaningful advancement in EMS education standards, as they have for years- led by the IAFF, IAFC, and the NVFC.

[Sin City Medic]

Maybe it might help for some first hand information from someone who not only works in Las Vegas but is a union member and bargaining team member as well.

This strike comes down to Dave Banelli trying to flex his muscles, period. AMR is simply not wanting to acknowledge our union. To clear some things up there are not two unions in Las Vegas. LV AMR is SEIU Local 1107, however IAEP was elected by the membership on Sept. 2nd and 3rd of 08 to service our upcoming contract and, upon completion of the contract, LV AMR will become an IAEP Local itself. What AMR is attempting to do is interject WHO they bargaining with, something they know they can't do. Most of you don't know but the initial contract took 3 years because of the same stall tactics by AMR. This is nothing new for most operations and the real question here is how far does AMR really want to push us, are they willing to lose their franchise agreement? Also just a little side note AMR last year posted a $37 million dollar profit in Las Vegas alone, doubt they are wanting to lose that!

Again these stall tactics are nothing new, and in the end should it go to strike I'm sure AMR will face severe punishment from the city up to and including losing their ability to operate. This, in turn, will force the county to come in and take over the operations including employees, ambulances, etc, effectively making it a 3rd service. So where we go from here is AMR's decision and my guess is that they are not willing to lose this contract, it's one of the very few that are profitable!

[Arizonaffcep]

This, in turn, will force the county to come in and take over the operations including employees, ambulances, etc, effectively making it a 3rd service.

Out of curiosity, I was under the impression that Clark County and LVFD could both transport. This being the case (assuming my info is good), the infrastructure is already in place for them to assume sole transports, as opposed to a third service (please note, I am not condoning this action, nor degrading it, just making an observation).

[spenac]

Basically then if you strike you just lose your job when the fire department takes over EMS.

[Sin City Medic]

I can see where you might assume that the fire department is capable of taking over EMS, the fact is that compared to AMR and the shear number of transports we do, they are WAY understaffed. Figure Las Vegas AMR alone transports anywhere from 300-700 patients a day. We have anywhere from 30-50 trucks on at any given time. The simple fact is that the Fire Departments just don't have that kind of staff, which is why it's written into the franchise agreement that at anytime the county deem action by AMR may pose a health threat to the community they will assume the operations, it's employees', ambulances, equiptment, etc.

[spenac]

I'm sure there is a clause that says void if either party fails to live up to the contract. You strike, contract void. Fire might hire some that have fire certification, but I would not count on all of you getting picked up. Sorry with the economy like it is I would say there will be a good chance Fire and EMS everywhere are going to start feeling the pinch as well.

[Lone Star]

Basically then if you strike you just lose your job when the fire department takes over EMS.

Having been a UAW member for a few years (pre EMS days), if I remember correctly, the strike vote is authorized by the union at the National level. Any local that strikes without National approval is considered a 'wildcat strike' and is not sanctioned, nor protected by the union.

Federal law prohibits a company from preventing your place of employment from organizing ('unionizing'), and if a company is found to have closed it's doors to 'bust the union', they will face very severe FEDERAL labor charges.

I don't think that the union members would lose their jobs if they went on strike. If AMR takes punitive action because of the strike, they are again in violation of federal labor laws.

For those old enough to remember the great Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981, the resulting loss of jobs was because they violated a presidential order to return to work. I'm not sure if the strike was a 'wildcat strike', or if it was actually sanctioned by PATCO. Another factor in the presidential order was that it was a federal job that interfered with transportation and commerce.

The great sit down strike of 1937 gave the people an idea how effective a bargaining tool a strike was, when used in the proper sequence of events.

AMR is known for alot of unfair business practices, poor patient care and even poorer employee relations. Their 'm.o.' seems to be to come into an area, drive out all the businesses that were there before AMR showed up ( or buy them out), then drop the levels of service to the point that they get their privileges revoked, thereby leaving their formerly covered area scrambling for EMS services.

I've seen AMR get their privileges suspended or revoked in almost every county in the state of Michigan!

AMR's SOLE focus is to become the 'biggest EMS provider', while sacrificing all the attributes that make them even a 'mediocre' service provider at best.

[spenac]

Having been a UAW member for a few years (pre EMS days), if I remember correctly, the strike vote is authorized by the union at the National level. Any local that strikes without National approval is considered a 'wildcat strike' and is not sanctioned, nor protected by the union.

Federal law prohibits a company from preventing your place of employment from organizing ('unionizing'), and if a company is found to have closed it's doors to 'bust the union', they will face very severe FEDERAL labor charges.

I don't think that the union members would lose their jobs if they went on strike. If AMR takes punitive action because of the strike, they are again in violation of federal labor laws.

For those old enough to remember the great Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981, the resulting loss of jobs was because they violated a presidential order to return to work. I'm not sure if the strike was a 'wildcat strike', or if it was actually sanctioned by PATCO. Another factor in the presidential order was that it was a federal job that interfered with transportation and commerce.

The great sit down strike of 1937 gave the people an idea how effective a bargaining tool a strike was, when used in the proper sequence of events.

AMR is known for alot of unfair business practices, poor patient care and even poorer employee relations. Their 'm.o.' seems to be to come into an area, drive out all the businesses that were there before AMR showed up ( or buy them out), then drop the levels of service to the point that they get their privileges revoked, thereby leaving their formerly covered area scrambling for EMS services.

I've seen AMR get their privileges suspended or revoked in almost every county in the state of Michigan!

AMR's SOLE focus is to become the 'biggest EMS provider', while sacrificing all the attributes that make them even a 'mediocre' service provider at best.

I'm not saying AMR will fire them for the strike. But that if the fire taks over they will not hire all AMR people. Then AMR will not have a contract so there are no jobs, I guess they might offer to let you move to another location.

I do agree from what I have heard though sounds like AMR sucks.

[spenac]

Chickens.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/No-S...315F3863980A%7D

[Lone Star]

What I don't understand is how the IAEP can claim that they can represent the AMR workers without a vote. Aunion has to be 'voted in' by a majority of the workers. Otherwise, we would have every place people can work represented by a 'union'. If the IAEP wasn't voted in, they have NO voice in representing ANYONE! It appears that the SEIU is the only bargaining unit that AMR should be listening to.

I'm not sure that the SEIU is the right union for them, but then again I haven't looked into the IAEP either.

Contrary to popular belief, the unions aren't always a bad thing. They protect the workers from unsafe work conditons, unfair labor practices, wrongful discharges/dismissals, and unfair punitive actions by the employer. They also (if used properly) could result in higher wages and better benefits for the represented employees.

While AMR was still allowed to operate in Michigan, they were bargaining with 12 different unions. Not 12 local bargaining teams, but 12 different unions. (This all came about by AMR's policy to swallow the smaller companies).

It's been said before, AMR's only interest is becoming the LARGEST EMS provider in the U.S., but to reach that goal, they're sacrificing employee relations, QI/QA, fair labor practices, professionalism and patient care. Just look how many occurances AMR's had recently with people posing as EMT-P's, only to find out that their credentials have been forged!

AMR demonstrates that the only thing they're really interested in is putting warm bodies in uniforms.