EMS Union Upset About Proposed Changes

They wouldn't be asking for overtime if they were paid enough. That's the real issue and the one that Abramson will never tire of dodging. He simply is an arrogant upper class liberal lawyer-politician who doesn't like or respect anyone who works for a living. The City's budget is earmarked for more important things, like remodeling his office time after time, the "community events" that can double as election campaign events and one-sided city contracts lining his friends pockets with public money.

I read how they want to get the responce time down under the current average of 8 min. Hell, I have been on calls where we have waited close to 30 min to get EMS there. No fault of EMS just of this BS administration. Accident victims have waited longet than the 8 min average they talk about. The average is reflecting only what they want it to. Alot of the calls are answered by Yellow Ambulance service and not our EMS, another of jerries follies. As for the "Fly Cars" to respond to heart attacks with a defibrillators. This administration took away the defibrillators from LMPD beat officers (who were certified and recertified in the use of) and gave away. These were donated to the POLICE by the hospitals as the POLICE are usually on the scene first. So now you have 1st responders responding without equipment to save someone who is having a heart attack. All I know is I am glad I don't live in the Metro area and have to rely on jerry and his joke of an administration to take care of my family if something happens.

As a recent ems retiree i can honestly tell you that this is a complete snowjob by "his honor jerry". I am so glad i am now retired, but i really feel bad for my brother and sister ems employees. Stripping money away from all the public safety agencies in louisville is abramson's way of generating revenue for downtown projects that there was originally no money for. He is constantly "REORGANIZING" and "STREAMLINING" Police, Fire and EMS. These are buzzwords for cutting funds and shifting numbers. He is a MASTER at it. How come he never reorganizes and streamlines the mayors office? Why do we have so many deputy mayors making $100,000 + a year. When are people going to get the clue that public safety is this mayor's unwanted step children? Congrats on a great website. At least you all have a public forum to discuss the issues, I believe all the departments should have a public forum to air their issues.

From 1978 until June 30th 1995 EMS was a 3rd service EMS. Mayor Jerry wanted to "streamline" EMS then so he abolished Louisville EMS and put them into Louisville Fire Dept. Strangely after 10 years, he was trying to make news by saying he wants to protect citizens and create a New Louisville Metro EMS (3rd service) That is exactly what he had from 1978 to 1995. It was not good enough then, but it is now. Also not only is he taking away this money, but when EMS was removed from LFD, they stopped getting the State incentive pay of $3100.00. I also believe the great Longevity that LFD had was reduced and the 24 hours of built in OT they were getting a month on the LFD's24/48 schedule, GONE!!! When you start taking 10-12 grand out of peoples pockets.

Maybe now, with the new FOP leadership, we can finally start to publicize our problems and show the public what this administration is all about. We need to join forces with Fire and EMS to show what a public safety nightmare Metro has become.

EMS brothers and sisters. Welcome to the party!

Lets see: #1Merge the Police Departments,let manpower fall short,cut districts/divisions to say your fully staffed and run it till the wheels fall off. #2 Screw the fire department,let staffing go short, let stations fall apart then cut back on the number of firehouses and say your consolidating. #3 Merge the EMS systems, run short on staffing then start sending EMT's/Paramedics in single person cars? Does anyone else see a pattern or am I just crazy??? God help us in this City.

ITS CALLED TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS, BY THE ADMINISTRATION. AS LONG AS THIS ***** STAYS IN OFFICE, ALL CITY EMPLOYEES ARE THEIR MERCY. HE HAS DECIDED TO STICK IT TO THE CITY EMPLOYEES.BEFORE HE BREAKS IT OFF IN US, ALL CITY EMPLOYEES HAVE GOT TO BAND TOGETHER AS "ONE" AND WORK TO OUST THI ADMINITRATION OUT OF OFFICE.

What it all boils down to is another band aid approach to a problem that he created in his first administration. Jerry keeps vacancies on every department, Police, Fire & EMS because he takes the money and spends it on other things, not on public safety. The term is vacany credits. Instead of hiring enough people to staff the wagons he used to send out fire trucks. The Firefighters made runs and could do BLS but everyone still had to wait until a wagon got there to transport. The "Fly" cars will be the same. Instead of the city purchasing a bunch of suv's that can only respond and not transport what he needs to do is buy more ambulances and staff them appropriately. It is the same old BS.

I used to live in Louisville, and now I live in another state. Here, several paramedics use Crown Victorias to respond to an immediate problem, then if the person needs to be transported they call for an ambulance.

Not being a paramedic or ever working for them or Louisville Metro government, from what I understand it can cut response times, and possibly money (assuming the amount saved in ambulance expenses is not spent on new cars). I won't comment on the schedule changes since I can't relate to an EMT or a paramedic. But in most respects where I live it has been more beneficial since for minor calls, i.e. a diabetic needs an emergency dose of insulin or some other special treatment, it lets qualified personnel administer the needs -- especially if the person does not need to be transported during or after the procedure -- and leaves ambulances free to transport other cases that do need emergency room / hospital attention.

Aside from the hours and pay differences (and possibly the fact that they want to buy SUV "gas hogs" that cannot transport people if needed, and not a smaller, more economical car), I just wonder if there really is a problem with this proposed idea, at least in terms of finances and evenly dividing personnel?

(Also, what is the difference between EMTs and paramedics? They're not the same?)

You seem to know a awful lot about how things should be done, but you don't know the difference between a EMT and Paramedic, then maybe you don't know as much as you think you do. Look up the difference on the internet.

Jerry has a habit of cutting Louisville's basic emergency services and allowing his out-of-town hired gun "experts" to take the blame in exchange for their big paychecks. This is bad deal for the people of Louisville. We are critically short of ambulances and replacing them with SUV's will not help those who need to be rushed to an ER. With advances in medicine there are many patients who the paramedics can't help, but the ER can, and the only thing that will save their life is getting them to the ER in a short amount of time. An example of this are the new drugs that can only be given in a hospital for heart attacks and strokes. For years, the suburban areas would frequently have only one Jefferson County ambulance available to cover an area with 300,000 people. and this has only gotten worse under the merged governent. You will never know how many people have died simply because the EMS was understaffed. If Jerry's plan goes through, then expect more people to die because their EMS service isn't provided the ambulances or numbers of paramedics that it needs to provide an acceptable level of service. We must get a new Mayor to save this City from this administration's destructive and dangerous policies that are cutting our fire, police and EMS services to the bone.

The labor issue here effects all Metro Employees. Jerry's consistent complaint is that he can't manage a government with multiple Unions. Merger legislation under KRS 67c107 requires him to continue to recognize all existing labor contracts but Jerry has never tried to follow the law and gain the support of his employees, instead he lets essential services suffer while he hides the fact he really does not understand the basics of labor relations or providing the leadership that it takes to run an operation with over 6000 employees.

After three years of leadership you can't just keep ignoring the fact that your workforce is in disarray. And you can't just keep putting political spin on real problems by blaming the employees. If you saw his weekly press conference on the EMS changes the Mayor's performance was pathetic. He really does not have a clue about how to treat his employees or follow basic labor law.

The Teamsters just finished contract negotiations at EMS. Now Jerry wants to change their pay rate and working conditions unilaterally after the fact. He must have known about this two months ago, why not take the high road and discuss it in negotiations in cooperation with the employees? We all know merger means change for all of us, but don't keep stealing money from our families. Give us the tools and resources to do our jobs. If the Director of EMS wants Fly cars give it a try. But don't lie to us. We accepted and perform these jobs in good faith, show good faith when dealing with us.

Jerry's biggest challenge in merger was blending multiple unions, cultures and work rules together into one cohesive work force. He has never attempted to involve his employees in the operation of government. With over 6000 employees he has made no effort to hire qualified labor relations staff to prevent all these problems, the biggest problem he knew he would face, only hired more managers to react to the problems he has created. Jerry needs to surround himself with competent Labor Relations staff to compensate for his lack of understanding of leadership values. The future of our workforce and our community demand it. No manager in the private sector would be allowed to commit all these illegal activities without NLRB charges being brought.

After three years of merger Jerry's Honeymoon is over and the results are not good. We have to band together for change, all of us. The FOP, Firefighters. AFSCME, Teamsters and all the other unions in Metro Government. And Downard needs to get more active and seek the support of all the labor unions.

You have to have a permit to carry a gun but anyone can have a child it is pretty scarrrryyyy