More than 30 Tacoma-based medics, EMTs to be laid off
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SEATTLE -- A medical transportation company is closing its Tacoma dispatch operation, and that means 32 paramedics and EMTs who service Pierce County will soon be out of work.
American Medical Response says its Tacoma facility is losing money. Company officials blame the financial strain on lost job bids, reduced reimbursements and no-pays.
The Tacoma crew, who will be laid off September 15, services all of Pierce County. They have a steady stream of clients, including patients at heatlhcare facilities who rely on them for everything from emergencies to rides to kidney dialysis and even doctor's appointments.
A man named Mike, who has stayed at the Orchard Park Skilled Care Center home, wonders how the layoffs will affect him.
"I wish they would continue to service people down here," he said. "They really need the help and the support."
Orchard Park officials say they call AMR ambulances at least 25 times every week.
Despite the drastic reduction in workers, AMR officials insist service and response times will remain the same. The company will assign medics and EMTs from other counties to hover in Pierce County in areas that have a high concentration of emergency calls.
That idea isn't sitting well with the Teamsters Union representing the laid off workers.
"If they said they are having economic problems down there, it doesn't make sense to actually move people from one operation down there to run calls," said Jeff Clark of Teamsters local 117.
The EMTs and paramedics about to be laid off are prohibited from speaking with the media, but the Teamsters union is stunned. A union representative said last week the workers rejected the company's request to reduce employee hours from 42 to 36 hours a week.
That request came just three weeks after ratifying a new contract.
The union voted against furloughs, and AMR officials say the only option left was to layoff workers. AMR says laid off workers can apply for available jobs in other counties and states.
American Medical Response says its Tacoma facility is losing money. Company officials blame the financial strain on lost job bids, reduced reimbursements and no-pays.
The Tacoma crew, who will be laid off September 15, services all of Pierce County. They have a steady stream of clients, including patients at heatlhcare facilities who rely on them for everything from emergencies to rides to kidney dialysis and even doctor's appointments.
A man named Mike, who has stayed at the Orchard Park Skilled Care Center home, wonders how the layoffs will affect him.
"I wish they would continue to service people down here," he said. "They really need the help and the support."
Orchard Park officials say they call AMR ambulances at least 25 times every week.
Despite the drastic reduction in workers, AMR officials insist service and response times will remain the same. The company will assign medics and EMTs from other counties to hover in Pierce County in areas that have a high concentration of emergency calls.
That idea isn't sitting well with the Teamsters Union representing the laid off workers.
"If they said they are having economic problems down there, it doesn't make sense to actually move people from one operation down there to run calls," said Jeff Clark of Teamsters local 117.
The EMTs and paramedics about to be laid off are prohibited from speaking with the media, but the Teamsters union is stunned. A union representative said last week the workers rejected the company's request to reduce employee hours from 42 to 36 hours a week.
That request came just three weeks after ratifying a new contract.
The union voted against furloughs, and AMR officials say the only option left was to layoff workers. AMR says laid off workers can apply for available jobs in other counties and states.
Yeah, way to go non american obama man. Let's support and put through school all the illegals and screw the Americans. What a slime ball rat he is. Thanks for nothing, I think we should impeach him NOW before he does even more damage.
They rejected the other options and hence got pink slips instead...way to go unions... naturally the more 'senior drivers' are not taking the hit  ... I was under one union when I was younger as a part timer... I refused to pay into the union and instead lost my job as membership was 'REQUIRED'... I was part time and they were asking me to pay the same as a full timer... yeah HELL NO
I guess it means we won't see as many EMT trucks sitting in Starbucks parking lots..
@Windowseat You probably wont care till the one coming for your CHEST PAIN is coming from Federal Way..........................(sigh)  clueless
Watch the response times now :(
Welcome to the great recession/depression folks. EMTs, Police and Fire Fighters are not immune to layoffs like the rest of us. :(
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@John Tits:Â No, most likely they rejected the reduction in hours to avoid becoming part-time employees, and as such they could have their benefits cut or eliminated by AMR.
 @John Tits Probably because they can get unemployment benifits easier... it does suck to lose ones job but the fact unempliyment benefits were extended SO much over the past few years there were people just milking it until the bitter end... its the whole 'taking my share sort of thing... '
Aahhh yes enter stage right the unions. Unions used to be in the business of taking care of workers, now they are just in the business of being a business. How the unions can be upset by this is mind boggling. If you have a company that isnât making money, and the employees donât want to furloughs or take reduced hours, what are they supposed to do go out of business. Give me a break.Â
The union voted against furloughs..Sounds about right .Now they get NO DUES ,I bet they are  happy now. Dues for everyone else will go up
Amazing, how the unions always seem to jump on these stories and blame the employers. According to the Teamsters, its AMR's fault and they are screwing the EMT drivers. I'm so sick of unions and their attitude that everyone else is at fault but them.
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I know there are a lot of good people that work for unions but I see no benefit out of working for unions anymore.
@northwestsurfer Yeah, how dare those SOBs in the unions give a damn whether people have jobs. Those SICK b@stards!
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You see no benefit "out of" working for unions? It's called someone giving a (starts with s) when you lose your job, for one thing.
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I'd love to work for a union! If only!
@Omalley Well lets see; the company said it was losing money in the Tacoma area so it was laying people off and exiting that market. The company also said "workers rejected the company's request to reduce employee hours from 42 to 36 hours a week."
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The union is complaining and blaming the company, as unions usually do. So it looks like you missed my point. The point was that unions are never thankful to the companies that employ their workers. They complain about everything and feel they are owed something.
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The company didnt do anything; they are not making money in that area. Its a for profit company, seems like a good idea to shut down Tacoma operations if they are not making money.
Has nothing to do with not collecting dues, I'm sure......
Good this will open up the chance for some other ambulance company or a startup to come into pierce co. and the county can take away AMR s right to operate in the county. Big corporations only care about their profit not the public or their employees.
 @32jim2 The unions are free to start their own company. They can pay a million dollars an hour. Whatever they want. Reduced reimbursements? Who cares? It's greedy corporations' fault 100% of the time.
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By the way, those Union members pensions? They are composed of "greedy corporations profits."
In unrelated news...damn this new comment system sucks....
@Lookitsme yeah I miss intensedebate
@northwestsurfer ==> AMEN!
 @Lookitsme Got that right!
Gee thanks, Teapublicans!
 Unions kill another host.
I hope y'all are enjoying your Free Market.
Deregulation permitted one company, American Medical Response, to buy up a whole bunch of little companies nationwide.
This is what happens.
Pay attention to Waste Management, another behemoth created by buying up a bunch of little companies nationwide.Â
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Enjoy your ride into the Third World.
@spiffyjumper Wait now I'm confused. Do we hate the megacorps who screw us, or the unions who demand a living wage on our behalf and "screw" the megacorps?
 @Omalley  @spiffyjumper We hate them both - LOL. They are like good and evil, you can't have one without the other. Since SCOTUS declared that dollars equals free speech, and corporations can make unlimited donations to campaigns (basically cementing that this country is little more than a corporatism run by global interests), the unions "need" (notice I put that in quotes) to exist to compete for the workers. So they squeeze their corporate masters and union dues payers to dump more money into the contribution coffers. Meanwhile, the politicians win with buckets of cash and, depending on who is writing the checks, a great six figure salary working for a big corporation, or lobbying organization, or union after retirement. Oh and lets not forget, a massive government pension and all the socialized medicine they can use, AND if they were important enough, a secret service detail to keep them safe, at taxpayer expense.
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We - are - getting - so - SCREWED and the really sad part is, they are both the enemy. Dollars are not free speech. Get corporations out of politics and unions too - and give our government back to the people. Otherwise I say let them fight it out like Thunderdome because it doesn't matter. We lose either way.
@spiffyjumper This whole country is just going in the pooper.
"A union representative said last week the workers rejected the company's request to reduce employee hours from 42 to 36 hours a week." So because they chose not to reduce their work schedule by 6 hours a week, they are now without jobs? Seems to me 36 hours per week is better than 0.
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Also, "Orchard Park officials say they call AMR ambulances at least 25 times every week." This is for emergencies and rides to appointments, right? Hopefully AMR services and response times won't be affected, as the rep said, however if it comes down to it Orchard Park and similiar facilities that use AMR with such frequency should look into hiring an EMT to have on staff to escort patients to their appts. If its an emergency, call 911. Obviously AMR receives some funds for these services so the facilities can just use those funds to hire someone in-house to cover their patient's appts.
 @Tattooed_Angel Did you ever stop to consider that in their agreements/contracts that 36 hours a week could be considered part-time versus full-time, and by taking that offer AMR could cut or even eliminate medical benefits, vacation pay, sick time, etc. etc.
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They pay their employees next to nothing as it is (I am friends with several AMR employees). You'd be pretty horrified to know that the EMT working on you, who's primary job is to get you to an emergency room while you still have a pulse, makes about the same amount of money annually as say, a legal prep chef in a hotel restaurant.
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A commuter airline co-pilot makes a couple thousand a year more.
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No job? A lot of the AMR EMTs would be better off working as waiters in the pay department.
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But, ya, go ahead and cut my hours to under 40 a week - and with it likely had blown up benefits. Oh that pesky part-time status rating.
 @Tattooed_Angel how nice of you to demonize the low paid employees, the ones who are doing the work, caring for those in need, going into nursing homes and rehab centers and transporting them to hospital, ERs, doctor appointments.....
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I wonder what the odds are you are a romney voter.... hmmm....
@tufa23 And just how did I "demonize" the low paid employees? By noting that they could have taken a 6 hour per week cut but instead now they are all unemployed? Or was it when I offered a solution for some of those who lost their jobs a possible way to gain employment by getting hired on privately?Â
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I think its a damn good idea. They'd most likely make more money working privately without having to charge the facility or its patients inflated costs for transportation. I don't know the specifics on what the insurance requirements would be however if it was too outragrous finanicially for them to cover emergency services, there is always 911.
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In fact, I think I like it more and more. I don't see any demonizing going on. I'm thinking outside the box on how to get some of those EMTs a job now that they are unemployed.
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 @Tattooed_Angel I didn't see that the Executives at AMR offered to reduce their own pay and benefits first...or did I miss that?
Those who were driving the company when they put it on the rocks should have to take the hit first.Â
 @spiffyjumper Uhm, that's a knifty knee jerk reaction, BUT cause and effect needs to be looked at here.
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IF management has been doing about the same as when AMR was more or less profitable, including at least COLA raises, THEN look at the cost per income producing man hour and see if that has increased at the same rate. It IS possible that a union driven work force could drive up the cost of doing business to a level that is simply unprofitable for a company.
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Unions have their place, but don't always barter deals that are best for a company's health.
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Some years ago, I worked for a unionized company. The workers received very competetive pay, health benefits and NUMEROUS paid days off. Yet, when the contracts came up for renewal, the union wouldn't agree to anything less than MORE than COLA increases. That company is no longer in business. So who won?
@spiffyjumper Completely agreed!
 @Tattooed_AngelIf the 6 hours per employee was the case they would only lay off 5-7 employees to negate the cost not the whole station. Sounds like a company who wants to downsize and will use any excuse.
Well I guess we better dust off a copy of grays anatomy and figure it out ourselves.
 @BlueJedi This beast has many horns. AMR has been "cleaning house" in upper and middle management since November 2011 in attempts to streamline it ops and trim what fat they could. The Tacoma ops have been losing money for some time, depending on the profits (however small) of other AMR chapters in the state to carry them. Their collection rate for transports have dropped dramatically due to the economy and decreased medical insurance reimbursements, and their overhead and labor costs have not lowered.
So, in any other business, if the customers only paid 30-40% of their bills, how long do you think they could stay in business? I don't see this as employee, union, or corporate greed. I think it is just a sign of the times.
 @medicmom This simply highlights the problem of having private enterprise providing frontline EMS services in the first place.
 @Howard Beale  @medicmom So what happens when the levy fails that supports the fire medic jobs? The jobs will default to the private EMS services (at least outside of King county) BECAUSE they only cost the public money when they are used. This is why private ambulance company medics are paid so much less than fire department ones. Easily 33-50% less. -And they provide additional services most fire-based entities do not.
Their jobs do not depend on tax levies being passed to keep their medics. The positions that are emptied by one ambulance company leaving, are filled by the competition to serve that area. -Without costing the taxpayers extra. Nobody, -public or private enterprise can make a living while working for free.
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