Vote No on Proposition 11 if you support your First Responders
To all of my California EMTs and Paramedics in case you hadn’t heard AMR is funding Proposition 11 to get out of some legal trouble they are already in for not comping missed/interrupted meal breaks. AMR says they don’t have the money to give us a living wage (we get paid minimum) and yet they have spent 21 million dollars on making sure Proposition 11 passes.
Why this matters
It matters because Proposition 11 is going to screw over your EMTs and Paramedics. Proposition 11 will take away our right to meal breaks and composition for missed and interrupted meal breaks. THIS WILL NOT AFFECT RESPONSE TIMES. The way this proposition is worded it sounds like a good thing. It promises faster response times, better mental health care for EMTs and Paramedics, and disaster preparedness training (active shooters situations, natural disasters, etc), but none of that is true. The only thing that is slightly true is the better mental healthcare, but it does not outweigh the cons of this prop. We are already required to have disaster preparedness training (it was required that i complete 5 FEMA trainings in order to get hired plus the extra ones we do after getting hired). It is not going to affect response times. As first responders we are required to respond to any emergency regardless of if we were on meal break (we get paid meal breaks for this reason), close to or even past end of shift time, if we are sleeping, cleaning, showering. It will not affect response times. We are mandated to respond to all calls in a timely manner. Our response times are mandated by the city that contracts us. 8 minutes for city, 15 for rural, 25 for wilderness. We are able to meet these response times. I have shown up to a call still wet from my shower i was trying to fit in on a 36 hour shift. My guy coworkers have shown up to calls with shaving cream still on their faces. We will show up regardless of what we were previously doing. Eating included. Just a couple weeks ago after being busy from the moment we clocked we finally had a slow period. My partner and I were hungry so we ordered food from a local fast food place. As soon as we paid we got a call. We immediately left our food and hopped in our ambulance and were on our way to the call. Took us 3 minutes to get there from the time we were dispatched to the time we were on scene.
We will show up.
AMR is already in legal trouble for not compensating us for missed meal breaks. We are given 2 meal breaks per 12 hour shift and 3 per 24 hour shift. If for any reason it is interrupted or denied due to a call then we are to be paid for an extra hour of work. AMR hasn’t been compensating crews for missed meal breaks and so they are being sued. They do not want to pay those crews and so they are supporting and funding this bill. As you have seen they have paid 21 million already. If proposition 11 passes then they will not have to compensate those people any more. Not only that but they decided to be sneaky and add in an extra clause so that if they are in any future legal trouble the State of California is to provide legal support. That’s right. California will be providing them lawyers which the taxpayer will be paying for.
Proposition 11 is not good for your first responders.
Wide Spread Interests 