From an EMS worker of 1199SEIU to the EMS workers of Local 2507

To the editor:

Brothers and sisters,

We are all EMS.

Today, we find ourselves in separate contract fights. You are fighting the City of New York after more than four years without a contract. We are preparing for what may become a major confrontation with the League of Voluntary Hospitals over a fair contract for hospital-based EMS workers.

For too many years, EMS workers have been divided and used against one another. We work in different systems, belong to different unions, and sometimes have different interests. At times those interests may even conflict. But the reality on the ground is that we all face the same crisis: understaffing, retention problems, inadequate compensation and a lack of respect for the essential work we do.

We are all EMS.

While our unions may not always see eye to eye, the time has come for our union leaders to talk. We cannot solve the EMS crisis in New York City if we cannot build a united front around the issues that affect all EMS workers.

We encourage both Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union delegates and Local 2507 delegates to move beyond personalities, politics and old grievances and begin building an alliance.

United, the 4,500 EMS members of Local 2507 and Local 3621, together with the 3,000 EMS workers of 1199SEIU, would represent a powerful force of more than 7,500 EMS professionals. Standing alongside 87,000 other healthcare workers represented by 1199SEIU, our collective voice would be impossible to ignore.

We may fight for different contracts. We may hold different views about the future of the 911 system, ambulance deployment or healthcare policy. Those debates will continue. But we can still stand together when it comes to advancing EMS, defending our professions and demanding respect for the workers who keep New York alive.

We can rally together. We can picket together. We can support one another's struggles. We can show employers, politicians and decision-makers that EMS workers are strongest when united.

If organizations as large and historically divided as NYSNA and 1199SEIU can find common ground and pledge solidarity when workers are under attack, then surely the EMS locals of DC 37 and the EMS workers of 1199SEIU can recognize the value of standing together.

An injury to one is an injury to all.

In solidarity,

Walter Sebastian Adler