The Misery of Labor Negotiations
This past week has been all about union contract negotiations. I don't know if any of you out there are familiar with this boring and tedious aspect of the fire service, but it is truly the shittier side of a rather fullfilling job.
We are in the midst of a rather nasty fight with the city regarding personnel policy and wages (to name a few of the complaints). Most of these issues stem from other city departments. We are too small to be in the IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) so we are part of the union that all city employees belong to. This causes a lot of problems because most people don't really understand how unique the staffing and scheduling is in fire departments.
To make me feel how appreciated our paramedics (and would-be paramedics) are, we are offered a whopping extra $25.00 per month for the sparkly paramedic badge. Twenty-five measly dollars. It would only take about 35 years to pay off the college tuition it took to get that badge. Needless to say, that was a little slap in the face to say the least.
Hopefully things will work out soon, we still get a raise, but we were hoping for a little RESPECT from the City Council... just can't get no love.
Aside from all of that school started this last week. Geez. You know, I really did have a nice summer so I shouldn't complain, but we just jumped right back into it. We have a test on our Cardiac Rhythm Interpretation Rules next week (16 of them) and ACLS protocols the week next. He just hands us blank sheets of paper, and tell us to start writing. Everything is rote memorization and it all makes my head hurt. I am sure I will survive, but it was nice not having to worry about anything. I'll write more on school in the next few.
We are in the midst of a rather nasty fight with the city regarding personnel policy and wages (to name a few of the complaints). Most of these issues stem from other city departments. We are too small to be in the IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters) so we are part of the union that all city employees belong to. This causes a lot of problems because most people don't really understand how unique the staffing and scheduling is in fire departments.
To make me feel how appreciated our paramedics (and would-be paramedics) are, we are offered a whopping extra $25.00 per month for the sparkly paramedic badge. Twenty-five measly dollars. It would only take about 35 years to pay off the college tuition it took to get that badge. Needless to say, that was a little slap in the face to say the least.
Hopefully things will work out soon, we still get a raise, but we were hoping for a little RESPECT from the City Council... just can't get no love.
Aside from all of that school started this last week. Geez. You know, I really did have a nice summer so I shouldn't complain, but we just jumped right back into it. We have a test on our Cardiac Rhythm Interpretation Rules next week (16 of them) and ACLS protocols the week next. He just hands us blank sheets of paper, and tell us to start writing. Everything is rote memorization and it all makes my head hurt. I am sure I will survive, but it was nice not having to worry about anything. I'll write more on school in the next few.
posted by Slack at 12:49 PM
2 Comments:
LABOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(sorry)
Yeah, I know. :)
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