LA County Enough is enough!!

DarksideIV

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In the end I know this is going to draw crowds from both sides of the lines. You'll have the "proud to work and have a job" type of people and the "we deserve better". Myself, I'll clearly stand on the we deserve better platform.
It used to be that we worked as EMT's thinking that a least we'd always have a job, thinking that if we get fired or decide to quit or our company goes under, that we'll easily pick up somewhere else. In the end, it's all the same, every company, all they pay, all the "respect", all the drama and the fraud.
We work in a field that a lot of people believe we get paid big money for, and we laugh at that. Its a sad sight that some of us here probably make just as much as anyone in a fast food joint or whatever.
Myself , I work with an IFT company that has grown fast. I started there at 4 rigs an have expanded to thirty in a little under 2 years. You would think a little seniority, a little loyalty, a little actually doing your job the way it's supposed to be done will get you somewhere. No. In fact it's gotten me to less pay then what I was promised, cut hours (and don't feed me this bad economy story, Medicare pays what it pays and it's not dimes and nickels), and all the same BS well all have stories to say about.
In the end, though many of your will disagree and simply say "get a better job" "quit" an all that non supportive stuff you get all the time, we all deserve better than where we are at. Better pay, better job security, actual respect.
This is all for all my LA county, Orange Co, even Riverside Co. We're better than what we are being paid for. Let's not longer just accept what we are given, because we are better than that. We make the company money, we have some control than what were led to believe but we have to stick together. It's not one man vs all. Without us, the company falls. Maybe it'll be another Russian or Armenian making another IFT, Doing the same bs, but we can make our voices heard.
Some say union, some say strike, whatever. Whatever it takes for us to get what we deserve, I think we should do it.
Now let the crap roll out...
 
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JPINFV

Gadfly
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bulk_popcorn_bag.jpg
 

Shishkabob

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California sucks. Move to a state that does EMS right. Get a certification that's actually going to get you more than minimum wage.
 

Joe

Forum Captain
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i do alright in laco... my pay checks are a little over 1000 every 2 weeks and i dont pick up any ot shifts. our division is union so that may be why. i feel i am over paid as an emt is laco. for the amount of work we do in the field and then we get to go back to station and watch tv or workout or whatever. so i dont know what to tell you man...
 
OP
OP
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DarksideIV

Forum Probie
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Yeah I never really had that luxury of going back to station, at least not till end of shift. I'm not at all promoting I want to be lazy and do nothing and get paid for it, I want us to be paid what we deserve. And there'll be a lot of difference in opinion on what we deserve...
 

Woodtownemt

Forum Lieutenant
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I completely agree. LaCo/CA ems is a disgrace. When I went into
This field I thought I would make a difference and have a degree of some
Kind of proffesional respect. Instead I got the opposite. Union might be one
Option on a employer level but ca scope of practice is still what it is.
Till that is challenged and change working as a emt will still not be as fulfilling.
we shouldn't have to move out of state to be an emt that is just
Ridiculous. Agree to disagree. I am happy to be employed at this time and place
And I go to work everyday trying to make the best of it not just for me but my family and my patients. LaCo/ CA SOP needs to be revamped for the better good of any one
Who finds themself sick in a ambulance or working in a ambulance
 

terrible one

Always wandering
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You have a cert of 120 hours of education and work in a field that has an extremely over saturated market. How much pay above minimum wage do you think you "deserve"?
But I do agree LAcounty and CA for that matter blows.
 

JPINFV

Gadfly
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Don't like how your company is being run and don't want to leave? Get into a management or leadership position and start effecting change.

Don't like how the county or state is being run? Start working with officials at those levels. Contact the LEMSA and see when the committe meetings are and find out if you can attend.

Don't like the education standards? Start getting involved with education both at the educator level and at a political level. Get connected.

There's always the option of becoming a paramedic (since there are scope of practice complaints involved), RN, or physician and become involved at the government/medical director level.

Crying "Woe is me," however, is not an option.
 

Fish

Forum Deputy Chief
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I completely agree. LaCo/CA ems is a disgrace. When I went into
This field I thought I would make a difference and have a degree of some
Kind of proffesional respect. Instead I got the opposite. Union might be one
Option on a employer level but ca scope of practice is still what it is.
Till that is challenged and change working as a emt will still not be as fulfilling.
we shouldn't have to move out of state to be an emt that is just
Ridiculous. Agree to disagree. I am happy to be employed at this time and place
And I go to work everyday trying to make the best of it not just for me but my family and my patients. LaCo/ CA SOP needs to be revamped for the better good of any one
Who finds themself sick in a ambulance or working in a ambulance

The EMT acope will not change, the Paramedics there can barely fucntion at the Level of a Basic, so there is no way the Basics themselves will get any love.
 

46Young

Level 25 EMS Wizard
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@ the OP, if you were to quit tomorrow, how many applicants would there be to take your place? This is why your working conditions are poor. Like others say, move to another area where EMT's and medics are in more demand, or change fields. The EMS situation isn't going to change anytime soon. The transient nature of the field will derail any attempts at organization and unionization.
 

DesertMedic66

Forum Troll
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I make enough money to live on. Yeah the pay isn't the best but then again it's only about 120 hours to become an EMT. For the amount of knowledge most EMTs have the pay matchs up.
 

mycrofft

Still crazy but elsewhere
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Enough money to live on is a job.

Enough money to buy a house, money for a retirement investment plan, decent medical benefits including vision, good dental, paid sick leave, and full-time employment is a career.

Of course, Oregon and some other places have been like this for decades!
 

JPINFV

Gadfly
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How many places are such that just being an EMT (in contrast to being in management or being involved in the educational side in a manner that requires current practice, etc) is a career?
 
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There are about 267368458536 ambulance companies in LA County. Alot of them are run by people who are only in it for the money, namely the IFT's. EMT-B in LA county is not a career, it's a stepping stone for something that involves more training and responsibilities. Making about $10 bucks an hour to be a expensive medical taxi is just the way it is. Btw, San Bernardino and Kern county seem to have their **** together, compared to the rest of socal atleast.
 

Chief Complaint

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How many places are such that just being an EMT (in contrast to being in management or being involved in the educational side in a manner that requires current practice, etc) is a career?

Around here we are fire based so if you are an EMT, its a career, the money is great. In terms of only being an EMT (private companies), no way is that a career. Those guys only make like $14/hr and they work 24 hour shifts where they are not allowed to sleep.
 

JPINFV

Gadfly
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EMT-fire fighters are not just EMTs.
 

shfd739

Forum Deputy Chief
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How many places are such that just being an EMT (in contrast to being in management or being involved in the educational side in a manner that requires current practice, etc) is a career?

Where I work is.

I understand to an extent where the OP is coming from. However unless you leave that part of Cali nothing will change. There isnt a reason for it to change.
 
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