AMARILLO, TEXAS -- In an emergency ambulances in Amarillo are operated by American Medical Response and they get your family to the hospital.
Now those workers for AMR want to unionize. Seventy percent of the employees signed up and filed for a petition to join one of the country's largest and fastest growing EMS unions, the International Association of EMT's and Paramedics.
Employees say they've faced large cuts in benefits and wages and want a union to make sure their voice is heard.
If they vote to unionize, it takes two weeks for an appeals process to take place. When the election is certified, things will move quickly, nominations for officers, meetings etc. Then they request dates for negotiations. The workers are hoping that could start in January.
So we contacted AMR and they gave us this Statement: "Amarillo Medical Services (AMS) is aware that a small group of employees has filed a petition for an election for union representation. Bobby Saunders, AMS General Manager, said, "Although we have only been operating AMS since January, we have increased annual wages for our employees and we continue to work to address the concerns that have been brought to our attention. Our employees are our most important asset, and while we respect their right to consider union representation, we believe that we can best address employee needs and concerns without a third party."
Unions essentially act as an agent for employees, the ideas is if you all work together, you get a better deal, with better benefits or pay or time off.
"Once the Union is recognized then the management and workers bargain for an agreement to set forth the mechanism of how they're paid, what their hours are what their duties are," said Philip R. Russ, from the Law Offices of Philip R. Russ.
But with a better deal and higher pay it could translate to higher prices. We spoke to Dr. Brian Farmer, a social science professor at Amarillo College, he gave an example of those higher prices that we have already seen.
When the NFL union gets higher pay for it's players it has the possibility to translate to higher ticket prices for you.
But we won't know what will happen until after a union is in place, if that happens. The board has scheduled an election for November 17th and 18th. The federal government will send an election official to have an election at their place of business. As soon as the polls close on day two, they open the box and count the ballot. A simple majority vote will unionize the workers.
Dr. Farmer said if an employee does not want to be part of the union, it is easy to opt-out.
