CSEA: New York’s Union for EMS workers
Learn why CSEA is already the union of choice for EMS workers throughout New York State, and how you can be a part of our growing movement advocating for better working conditions, improved wages and benefits, equity and empowerment, and on-the-job protections for workers providing emergency services througout our communities.
Our Movement
In life’s most frightening moments, EMS practitioners stand between the public and tragedy. With skill, courage and dedication, EMS workers serve on the front lines, providing care in the most perilous conditions – often at great cost to themselves. CSEA is proud to represent more than 2,700 of these brave women and men, and has been fighting alongside them for the right to organize, for better working conditions in often hostile workplaces and to receive better mental health treatment.
If you’re an EMS professional, connect with our union to strengthen our voice as we join across the state to improve our working conditions.
Our Goals
With more than 2,700 EMS workers in both the private and public sectors, we are New York’s fastest growing EMS union. We stand united with the members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) and our parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, representing tens of thousands more EMS professionals. Our mission is to improve the standards in our profession so that we can better serve the public and make EMS work a viable and respected career path. By joining with CSEA and AFSCME, we have the strength and resources to get it done. Across the country, we are improving EMS through collective bargaining and political action, while pushing back against cuts and declining standards.
The Union Difference
We’re coming together as a movement to form a union so we can change our working conditions and provide the best possible care for our clients.
FAIR WAGES AND BENEFITS
Union members are more likely to have higher wages, paid sick days, affordable health insurance and retirement benefits. For most union members, their union job means they can afford stable housing and provide for their kids.
A STRONGER WORKFORCE
Union membership is associated with higher productivity, lower employee turnover, improved workplace communication and a better-trained workforce.
EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT
Unions have made a difference in helping to close the wage gap over the last 40 years. By giving workers a united voice, women and people of color who are union members make higher wages and have more job security than their nonunion counterparts.
Join the Movement
CSEA represents more than 2,700 members who work in EMS titles across our state. They are among the 7,700 AFSCME (our parent union) members in New York State (and 25,000 nationally) who work in emergency medical services. Additionally, thousands of CSEA members work as first responders, including as volunteers in their communities. More than 6,600 CSEA members currently hold EMS certifications.
That makes us a large group of workers with a common purpose and common goals, who can accomplish a lot working together on those issues we care about. Issues like safe staffing, proper PPE, (list other issues here).
Across New York, we’re joining together to improve EMS for our communities. When we unite with our coworkers, we gain a voice in the workplace. Are you ready to join us?
Our Goals
CSEA represents more than 2,700 members who work in EMS titles, and they are among the 7,700 AFSCME members in New York State (and 25,000 nationally) who work in emergency medical services. Additionally, thousands of CSEA members work as first responders, including as volunteers. More than 6,600 CSEA members hold EMS certifications.
Our mission is to improve the standards in our profession so that we can better serve the public and make EMS work a viable and respected career path. By joining with CSEA, we have the strength and resources to get it done.
Across the state, we are improving EMS through collective bargaining and political action, while pushing back against cuts and declining standards.
“We’ve lost that family feeling over the years. Our motto, if you look on our rigs, is ‘neighbors helping neighbors,’ but we weren’t helping ourselves … and now is the time for us to help ourselves.”
“We’re first responders, but we’re also not. We’re also hospital staff, but we’re also not. We’re expected to operate like nurses, but at half the salary.”
We Deserve Better
As EMS workers, we know we deserve more, especially now with the pandemic making our work even more hazardous. We expertly walk the line, providing top-notch care for our communities and trying to satisfy an employer that seeks to cut costs wherever possible but this is hard, and the system is running us ragged. EMS workers around the state are organizing a union to provide better quality patient care, relieve us of this burden–improving our working conditions.
The Union Difference
We’re coming together as a movement to form a union so we can change our working conditions and provide the best possible care for our clients.
FAIR WAGES AND BENEFITS
Union members are more likely to have higher wages, paid sick days, affordable health insurance and retirement benefits. For most union members, their union job means they can afford stable housing and provide for their kids.
A STRONGER WORKFORCE
Union membership is associated with higher productivity, lower employee turnover, improved workplace communication and a better-trained workforce.
EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT
Unions have made a difference in helping to close the wage gap over the last 40 years. By giving workers a united voice, women and people of color who are union members make higher wages and have more job security than their nonunion counterparts.
“We wanted to join CSEA because we were looking for fair treatment and equality in the workplace, respect, and the right to earn decent pay for the vital work we do. We knew we needed more a more powerful voice in the workplace and a union was the only way we were going to get it.”
Fair Wages and Benefits
Union members are more likely to have higher wages, paid sick days, affordable health insurance and retirement benefits. For most union members, their union job means they can afford stable housing and provide for their kids.
A stronger workforce
Union membership is associated with higher productivity, lower employee turnover, improved workplace communication and a better-trained workforce.
Equity and Empowerment
Unions have made a difference in helping to close the wage gap over the last 40 years. By giving workers a united voice, women and people of color who are union members make higher wages and have more job security than their nonunion counterparts.
“We wanted to join CSEA because we were looking for fair treatment and equality in the workplace, respect, and the right to earn decent pay for the vital work we do. We knew we needed more a more powerful voice in the workplace and a union was the only way we were going to get it.”
“NOVA EMS professionals voted overwhelmingly to join CSEA as their first step in building power. The timing could not be better. The pandemic has revealed much needed, systemic change. EMS professionals like those employed at NOVA know this and recognize being a union as the fairest and most respectful way to negotiate better terms with their employer.”
Reach Us
143 Washington Ave
Albany, NY 12210
800-342-4146
organizing@cseainc.org