AMR takeover

[crotchitymedic1986]

To address the bigger problem, what are you doing to fight them ? You mentioned you are in a union, which immediately tells me that maybe there are some areas you guys can cut to save your jobs. AMR believes that every ambulance should run a call/hour. My guess is you are probably only averaging half of that if you are the typical EMS agency (you are probably running 24/48 and have way too many trucks up after midnight -- if you are running 15 24/48 ambulances, they will most likely run 12-15 during the day, and only run 6-8 after midnight) AMR will keep everyone for a few months, then they will get rid of all of your supervisors and management. The street level medic and EMT are probably OK, just realize that you will be on 12-hour shifts, running more calls for less pay. So why not do that yourselves and keep your benefits and employer ?

[Gerry314]

It is common practice for AMR to re-hire workers after acquisition. It would be a process of re-applying for your job and an interview process. They have let people go during this process. However, they are good about permitting retention of years of service with your former employer for the purposes of seniority and longevity with AMR. Of course, AMR is infamous for inconsistency. Things might be different in your case because you are a Unionized shop. It sounds as though this is not as much an acquisition as it is a winning of contracted service with a municipality. In that instance AMR would be bound by the process of your Union CBA. There could be pink slips and eventual recall as work increases or licenses for ambulances increases. There are several possibilities. Familiarize yourself with your CBA and call on your stewards to enforce language dealing with change of work environment clauses, lack of work provisions, layoffs, terminations, and "effects bargaining" under NRLA.

Just wondering if anyone cares to speak about any experience they have when AMR takes over a new county? Are the current EMTs and Paramedics often retained?

The contract is up for bid where I work and AMR is the only competitor. Currently our company upholds a 98% compliance with response times. AMR as I understand it averages around 95% and in this bid has committed to providing less hours for employees (which I think means less ambulances). To me these two things add up to if AMR takes over some of the workforce has to go even though our union (which happens to represent employees from both companies which blows) says no one will lose their job that qualifies for AMR employment. Does AMR does shift full time people to part time in order to avoid firing them but match their operational goals?

This isn't intended to bash AMR but more understand how things work in these situations. It is what it is....

[Just Plain Ruff]

My experience was with two takeovers.

1. first was a buyout of a existing pretty good service and AMR came in and kept most of the employees without us having to re-apply to be hired. Some they let go but those were the dead weight of the service.

2. Came in and took over a county with the approval of the county. They did not hire any of the people from the ambulance service they took over from because none of those people could be hired based on AMR's personnel qualifications. The original ambulance service was so terribly run that AMR couldn't hire any of the employees for fear of shoddy patient care.

It also didn't help those people from the service that got booted that they made death threats (openly in public) towards the AMR crews which came in to cover the county. I was personally threatened at least 15 times by employees of the original service. It got so bad that the original service was jumping calls and several times things got so unsafe on scene that I left those scenes until law enforcement got there. Each time LEO's sided with us and removed the offending crew but patients were put in the middle of a turf war which I think may have cost some of those patients their lives or it affected their long term health.

This was a very very bad time in my career.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Ruffems

[subliminal]

So pretty much AMR is the Wal Mart of the EMS world.

[cynical_as_hell]

So pretty much AMR is the Wal Mart of the EMS world.

that is exatly 100% correct!!! I made that same statement to my superivisor and other coworkers after only 2 months of working for AMR. They do bring in some great changes when they take over, but there is also the bad ones too. I guess you just have to look at it with each take over. My biggest problem with AMR has been with the payroll department. There have been many errors with not only mypay, but that of my coworkers as well. And most of the time you are told "too bad. its your faiult, wait until next payday" but that's really been the only major problem with them as an employee.

[crotchitymedic1986]

Great analogy, never looked at it that way, but the walmart example is dead on. Much like walmart, AMR comes in and destroys the small ambulance provider. At first you are impressed with the shiny new stuff they bring and the promises they make, but then you realize what you lost when the small providers are all gone. Walmart will put your hometown pharmacy out of business, and will probably sell you drugs at a reduced price --- but they wont open their pharmacy at 3am because your kid is sick, like old John Doe used to do at his pharmacy. Yes the food prices are cheaper, but are the vegetables as fresh as the ones you used to get a John Smiths grocery store ? Will AMR transport that indigent patient a long distance like ABC used to do, or support the local schools, like ABC ambulance used to do. When their employees are in the hospital, do they take care of the family like a small ambulance service would.

Luckily, the walmart analogy is also true in that sooner or later, the walmart gets too big and impersonal, and you start to visit the new stores that are opening up in the downtown district that was almost dead (because of walmart). The same is true of AMR, everywhere they are, someone opens up an ambulance service that eventually kicks their butt.

[jwraider]

I think a few people nailed what I was getting at...

The comment about AMR striving to give each ambulance a call per hour will have a big impact here. The current company strives to meet a 9 min response time 98% of the time. The contract is being bid at 90% and AMR probably doesn't meet 98% anywhere. So there will be less shifts available and some full timers will either be forced into part-time bidding for random shifts or let go.

The trick is our union is the same union AMR employees have. They HAVE to side with AMR. It really feels like our unions priorities are 1) AMR 2) our employees.

It's amazing the misinformation that goes around even in the public meetings with the county officials.

[medic82942003]

I currently live in MI- i agree with what Lone Star had to say. Plus alot of the AMR medics in our araea were lazy.

[HERBIE1]

The parent company of AMR used to be Laidlaw, which among other things, is a waste disposal firm. I'm not sure what that means, but...

They are also Canadian, if I am not mistaken, but I won't hold that against them...

(Just kidding, Canucks)

[island emt]

1st thing to remember about the empire: They only care about the bottom line, not the patients or the employees. If they don't produce the required profit margin they will cut un-necessary expenses like crews and base stations. you will find yourself SSM in a ghandi mart parking lot or under a highway overpass whenever your not running your arses off.

It's also not uncommon to have a truck with 250,000 miles or more on it to call your home 12 hours a day.

I say this from past personal experience and from many places where they have come in and taken over contracts.They recently pulled out of many areas south of us because the contracts where not profitable to corporate. Then what?? . Your probably lucky that you haave a union contract to protect you but don't assume that all will be rosey at the timme of takeover.

Good luck