TESTIMONY
Michael Greco, Vice President of Local 2507 representing EMTs, paramedics, and fire inspectors serving in the FDNY, on Pay Disparity and Inequity Within the FDNY Workforce
2:14:06
·
3 min
Greco testifies about the significant pay disparity between EMTs, paramedics, and fire inspectors compared to other FDNY employees like firefighters.
- He highlights the detrimental impacts of this pay inequity on EMTs and paramedics, many of whom live below the poverty line despite performing high-stress jobs.
- He argues that budgetary limitations cannot justify subjecting city employees to exploitative work conditions and perpetuating a segregated workforce.
- Greco calls for not only opening traditionally male and white-dominated jobs, but also properly valuing and compensating roles filled by women and people of color.
- He criticizes the 'pattern bargaining' approach in collective bargaining for exacerbating pay gaps between higher and lower-paid workforces.
Michael Greco
2:14:06
Thank you very much.
2:14:07
Good morning.
2:14:08
My name is Michael Greco.
2:14:09
I am the vice president of local 2507 representing EMT's paramedics and fire inspectors serving in the FDNY.
2:14:16
I wanna thank the speaker and the committee here today for their tireless work to address the issue of pay disparity in the city's workforce.
2:14:24
Paying equity has a devastating impact on our members and all EMS members in the department which maintains a severely segregated workforce, the FDNY.
2:14:35
If we want to correct pay in equity in our workforce, it is not enough to just work to open doors to the jobs that have been traditionally withheld from women and non white municipal employees like that of firefighters.
2:14:48
Although that work is important, we also have to change the value we place on the work done in those titles that have larger amounts of women and non white employees like EMS.
2:15:00
And I know everyone says, well, but what about the budget?
2:15:04
But this argument that other things are more important to spend money on just reflects our lack of prioritizing women and people of color.
2:15:13
Paying employees equitably should not be a budgetary issue.
2:15:18
Budgetary limitations cannot be an excuse to subject the city's employees to exploitative work conditions.
2:15:27
Our members live hand to mouth, most live below the poverty line, Many are on government subsidies.
2:15:33
Our members are in a constant state of stress as they slip into more and more debt just to stay alive.
2:15:39
So that they can serve in extremely high stress demanding jobs.
2:15:43
Meanwhile, they watch as their colleagues are given unlimited paid sick leave salaries almost twice what they are paid, and benefits and work conditions substantially different.
2:15:53
All of this perpetuates a culture on end of mentality that allows for segregation and keeps women and people of color in poverty.
2:16:01
This is not the effect employment opportunities with the city of New York should have.
2:16:06
Year after year, the FDNY p appears before this body trying to convince it hiring 70 women as firefighters is a big step forward in correcting the deeply rooted culture of discrimination in the FDNY.
2:16:19
But we know 2 decades after the Vulcan class action, we have made little change.
2:16:24
The EMS unions also filed a complaint in 2019 and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which found that the FDNY discriminates in its paid practices towards EMS first responders A half a decade later, the city has done nothing to remedy this.
2:16:41
As long as you allow one group to be undervalued, you will have a system where there is the haves and haves not, and you will continue to see a segregated workforce like mirrors that.
2:16:52
The only way to close the gap is to not just open doors to diversify white and male jobs, but to also give proper value to the jobs in which women and people of color perform.
2:17:03
I thank you for your time and commitment to this important work, and I just wanted to add towards the end collective bargaining while it's important.
2:17:11
They've nicknamed that now pattern bargaining.
2:17:15
So that is a problem when it comes to equity and diversity.
2:17:19
Because if you have a very high paid workforce like PD, like FD, and they're getting $100,000, and the pattern is 10,000 10%.
2:17:30
You end up giving the higher paying workforce a $10,000 raise while the underprivilege or the underserved that's making 50,000 gets a $5000 raise.
2:17:40
So you just get exponentially further and further apart.
2:17:44
So that is a big problem.
2:17:45
Each service should be able to bargain for what they're worth and any change that should be made We shouldn't be told, well, we'd like to help you, but then 250,000 other people are gonna, you know, be arbitration eligible.
2:17:59
So thank you very much for your time, and thank you for everything you've put into this.
