San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 is about to lose about a third of its membership, a loss which could significantly affect its political clout.
About 400 paramedics and emergency medical technicians who provide ambulance services to San Diego residents under a city contract just voted to separate from Local 145 and join a different union.
Since 1997, Local 145 has represented the employees of San Diego Medical Services, a public-private enterprise created by San Diego Fire-Rescue and Rural/Metro Ambulance.
Employees of Rural/Metro Ambulance who staff San Diego Medical Services voted to join the National Emergency Medical Services Association or NEMSA. The association already represents emergency medical professionals working for two other companies in San Diego: American Medical Response and Priority One Medical Transport.
The separation is not yet final pending certification by the National Labor Relations Board. The election took place over a few days and concluded last night.
Alan Arrollado, secretary-treasurer of local 145, said his union will evaluate the election results and decide whether to challenge it.
“It’s a significant impact to our membership population,” he said. “It’s much easier to provide representation when all the groups are represented by one bargaining unit. It keeps us all focused on the same goal of protecting the citizens. When we have separate bargaining units, sometimes the politics become different, and things go in a different direction.”
Right now, city firefighters and the paramedics both staff city ambulances. However, because the paramedics are private-sector employees and firefighters are public employees, they have separate contracts.
Michael Simonsen, spokesman for San Diego Medical Services and Rural/Metro Ambulance, said the split should not have any effect on services.
“We are a labor-friendly company. If the employees have chosen to go with a different labor union, we will sit down and negotiate with whatever group the employees want to be represented by.”
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