UMass EMTs picket after contract talks stagnate
Zachary Comeau
Worcester EMTs Lisa Horowitz, Joe Kuchinsk; supporter Matthew O'Neil and his wife, Brittany, an EMT. The group is picketing after contract talks with UMass Memorial Medical Center (background) fell through.
Paramedics and EMTs for UMass Memorial Medical Center picketed outside of the hospital on Plantation Street on Tuesday after contract talks fell through on Friday.
The local union, backed by the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics, has been working without a contract since July, the groups said in a press release.
Union leaders met with hospital leadership on Friday in an effort to resolve the dispute, but no agreement was reached.
According to Bryan Urato, the local union president, the talks have been federally mediated and will continue until they come to an agreement. No strike is planned, he said.
Talks on Friday revealed both sides are not any closer to coming to an agreement.
The former contract caused staffing issues due to low wages and have overwhelmed the department, and due to stagnant wages, new hires make more than some longtime medics, according to a statement released by the group Monday.
“We’re looking to attract new medics and keep good medics,” Urato said Tuesday.
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