The Austin Emergency Medical Services Association (AEMSA) and the City of Austin are at odds over base pay for its medics and will mediate negotiations through arbitration this month. The two sides will meet on May 3rd to continue negotiating the new terms of the Austin Travis County Emergency Medical Services Collective Bargaining Agreement and workers’ pay scale. The last agreement, reached in 2018, is set to expire in September of this year.
The Austin EMS Association says they were shocked by the offer, especially on the heels of what’s been an incredibly challenging couple of years for medics, from a deadly pandemic to a spike in crashes.
More employees have quit Austin's Emergency Medical Services now than at any other time in history. The staff exodus is on track to double the number of people who left in 2020 and 2021.
Pamela Littlejohn is the general manager of the food truck involved, Holla Mode. She says four of her employees were working Friday night. She says they're physically okay but shaken up.