In its labor contract negotiations, the City and the EMS Association reached a tentative agreement on a one-year labor contract. Today’s $4.2 million wage proposal includes pay raises that range from 4% to 11.2% depending on position and tenure. The one-year agreement will allow the City to hire experienced paramedics directly into the rank of paramedic to better address current staffing shortages. The City and the Association will continue to review the rapidly changing landscape of paramedics in today’s workforce.
Under the wage proposal in the tentative agreement:
Starting pay for EMTs – the entry level position – will increase by 12.5%, to $22/hour.
Starting pay for paramedics – which rank higher than EMTs – will increase by 11.2%, to $30.03/ hour.
All current employees will receive a pay increase ranging from 4% to 11.2% depending on position and tenure.
“Working together, the bargaining teams for the City and the EMS Association today reached a tentative agreement on a one-year labor contract” said Deven Desai, Chief Labor Relations Officer for the City of Austin. “If approved by the EMS Association members and the City Council, this contact will increase starting pay for EMTs and paramedics by more than 10%. In addition, all current EMS employees will receive pay raises ranging from 4% to 11.2% depending on position and tenure. This agreement responds directly to the very real financial pressures facing many EMS medics by providing $4.2 million in additional pay over the next year, while also balancing the City’s responsibility to our taxpayers.”
Emergency Medical Services Chief Robert Luckritz stated, “I am very pleased that the City and EMS Association have come to a tentative agreement. This agreement will allow us to continue to focus on recruitment and retention of our sworn staff through improvement of their quality of life, while helping us enhance the already exceptional care provided by our Austin-Travis County EMS clinicians to the residents and visitors of Austin and Travis County.”
