Employees Santa Clara County’s emergency medical services contractor reached a deal with their employer last week that improves safety conditions, increases pay, maintains benefits, protects jobs and allows the employees to plan more time off with their families, according to a press release from the AFSCME Local 4911 United EMS Workers.
Members of Local 4911 voted overwhelmingly Friday to approve the new two-year contract with Rural/Metro, with a vote of 89 percent of union members in favor, the press release says.
The EMS workers were faced with multiple hurdles to a favorable agreement when they sat down at the bargaining table, including Rural/Metro’s recent bankruptcy filing, the press release says. Paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers and vehicle-supply techs took a strike authorization vote in April and reached out to County leaders to discuss the importance of maintaining EMS standards in the county.
“We knew it was up to us to hold Rural/Metro accountable,” said Martine Bustamante, an EMT at Rural/Metro 911. “People’s lives and our safety were on the line.”
Samantha Tennison, a paramedic at Rural/Metro 911, added, “Having participation at every level is what makes us strong. We’ve never been this united, and it made all the difference in negotiations.”
Rural/Metro has been the County’s EMS provider since 2011. Since then, the company has been criticized for failing to meet the response time standards listed in the contract with the County, who imposed more than $3.4 million worth of fines on the provider from January 2012 to April 2013.
